Naruto: The Apprentice
by JackOfBladesX
Summary: On the eve of his second failure to pass the Academy exam, Naruto is found by someone who has taken a particular interest in his future. Sarutobi has forbidden Danzou from touching Naruto. But could this new person be even worse?
1. Master and Student

**A/N: I don't own Naruto.**

**Just an interesting fanfiction, i've been thinking about for a while. To be honest, I'm not one hundred percent sure that i'll continue it though (I don't seem to continue a lot of things) There's a chance that'll I'll put the story up for adoption, so if anyones interested, let me know.**

**Slight crossover, I'll be adding a character from another series in this fanfiction. I'll also be adding a race from a separate game, to act as a summoning contract. Try to guess the character before i reveal her true name in the fanfiction.  
**

**Naruto: The Apprentice  
**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Master and the Student**

Three men stared at the blonde child. The one in the center, an elder man, nodded at the boy in front of him. "Ok then. The final part of the exam is simple; you just have to use the Clone Technique to create two perfect clones. Whenever you're ready Naruto Uzumaki."

"Here we go, **Clone Technique**!" The boy quickly went through the handseals before a puff of smoke surrounded him.

The man in the center frowned at that. The smoke was a very clear sign that the boy had used far too much chakra, which meant that his clone would probably end up-

The smoke cleared, and Naruto excitedly look to his side to see the clone he had created. Unfortunately, upon seeing the clone the boy visibly cringed. It looked dead, not to mention incredibly pale.

The elder man sighed. "Naruto Uzumaki, you fail."

* * *

He failed again. This was the second time he failed the Genin exam, now he had to deal with another year at the Academy. He failed, he was a failure.

"_Failure comes to all those who first begin this path. Do you plan to let one setback end your dream before it evens begin?"_ A frail-sounding, slightly feminine voice said.

Naruto's eyes widened as he quickly looked around the clearing. He didn't see anyone. He groaned at that, "Now I'm hearing voices", he complained.

"_Yes, actually."_ Naruto's eyes widened. _"You are hearing a voice."_

Once again, Naruto began looking around the clearing. "Who are you?" he asked, barely above a whisper.

"_You ask a question before being considerate enough to answer my own? Have you no manners child?"_

Naruto was beginning to sweat a bit, and began breathing nervously. "Are you a ghost?" Naruto flinched at the disgusted snort he heard.

"_If you're truly that concerned with my identity."_ Once again Naruto flinched at the tone of voice. _"You may call me Runa, and I'm speaking to you telepathically- in your mind that is."_

Naruto blinked, "How are you doing that?"

"_Enough!"_ he harsh voice caused Naruto to flinch again. _"You have avoided my question enough, now tell me why have you stopped training?"_

Naruto looked down, "I can't do the **Clone technique**." He said with a slight whine.

"_So your answer is to stop struggling? Was all your talk of becoming Hokage merely that, talk?"_

Upon hearing those words, Naruto immediately got a determined look on his face, "No way! I'm not giving up! I'll be Hokage even if I can never do this stupid **Clone technique**!" He yelled that last part out. Silence was his answer for several moments. Nearly a minute later, and he began to believe that he really was going crazy when the voice spoke again.

"_The Ram seal is the first hand seal for the __**Clone Technique**__. Put you hands in the Ram seal" _The voice ordered.

Naruto blinked, "What? Why?"

Again in a harsh tone, _"Do you plan on questioning everything I tell you? Do as I say!"_

The boy nodded, and did as he was told. He thought maybe she was going to watch him do the technique and tell him what he was doing wrong. It was more than his 'teachers' at the Ninja Academy ever did for him.

"_Now close your eyes and clear your mind." _This time, Naruto did as he was told without arguing. _"Breath in and hold you breath." _Naruto did and held his breath for what had to be half a minutes. _ "Breath out."_ Once again, he did as he was ordered to. _"Breath in…breathe out…breath in…"_

Naruto truly didn't know how long he had been breathing. It felt like he was standing there for hour before she finally commanded him to do something else, _"On this next breath, begin channeling your chakra…"_

That's when things began getting weird for Naruto. His mind ran away, and he 'imagined' himself in a different place entirely. He was no longer in the training field, by the academy. Now he seemed to be in a dark room, with only a few candles for light. The darkness was…deafening, as strange as that sounded. And that's when he saw her. Wrapped up in a black robe, which made her nearly invisible, in the shadows, was an aged woman. White/gray hair, pale skin. The only thing that stood out was her blue eyes. They practically glowed. She was standing, at least two heads taller than him, with her hands in an upside-down prayer position.

"_Control it. Don't let it control you. Now switch your hands to the Snake seal." _Naruto did as he was ordered to._ "Slowly begin gathering you chakra towards your heart. Listen to your heart and synchronize the chakra flow to it's beat."_

Naruto began concentrating on the beat of his heart.

"_Good. Follow that rhythm." _Runa's voice faded away as Naruto continued gathering his chakra. _"Now…on the count of five, I'm going to command you to release your chakra. A moment prior to that, you are to switch your hands into the tiger seal. Now-"_ Runa began, neither expecting nor waiting for an answer from Naruto. _"-Five…four…three…two…"_

Naruto took one last deep breath.

"_ONE. Release!"_

Naruto released the chakra he had built up. He had expected a loud puff of smoke, like he normally got when he preformed the technique. However, he didn't even hear a sound.

"_Good, now open your eyes and see the product of your hard work."_

At that statement Naruto was confused. The fact that he could **see** Runa in front of him made him forget that he had closed his eyes, and made him wonder if he ever opened them. After a few moments his eyes did open. He was no longer in the shadows, in front of his trainer. He was back in the clearing, where he had been training. Catching something from his peripheral vision, he glanced to the side and saw a perfect clone of him staring back. Naruto blinked at the clone a few times, before the information finally registered in his mind, "YES! I FINALLY DID THE **CLONE TECHNIQUE!**"

"_Lower your voice!" _Runa snapped at him. Any other time, that tone of voice would have completely killed his buzz. But this time, he was just to happy to care. A sense of happiness washed over him at how easy it had been to learn the technique when someone finally took a moment to show him how. Which prompted the next question to come from Naruto's lips.

"Runa-sensei you're so awesome! Can you train me some more!"

Silence was his only answer for close to a minute before Naruto's breathing began to quicken. Would she reject him? Did he annoy her? He had done several things to annoy her, if her tone of voice was any indication. Was she just passing by? Was he going to be all alone again? Would-

"_Calm your breathing child, it betrays your emotions, something a ninja can never afford." _Upon hearing her voice, Naruto held his breath, waiting for an answer. _"Very well Apprentice. I will teach you, __**if**__ you promise to keep your screaming to a bare minimum."_

Naruto paused just before jumping in the air, screaming in joy. Her ultimatum had completely halted his forthcoming victory dance. After calming himself down significantly, Naruto managed to ask, "Thank you Runa-sensei-"

"_Master."_ She said silently. _"You're to refer to me as Master."_

Naruto nodded. "Ok Master!" Naruto said cheerfully. "By the way, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage!"

"_Hmmmmmm."_

Naruto was still grinning when he asked, "So what are you going to teach me now?"

"_Naruto, are you aware of Shinobi Code of Etiquette 24-C?" _Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but was quickly cut-off, _"Don't answer that. It's a code that strictly says only certain shinobi are allowed to take on students. There are strict rules, which prevent shinobi from teaching civilians, like you, the ninja arts." _Naruto blinked at that statement. _"The rules are voided when a shinobi becomes a teacher at their…__**Academy**__"_ she spat the last word out with more than a bit of amusement, as if she thought the very idea was ridiculous. _"And of course, no one would stop a parent or sibling from teaching an upcoming student. However, for someone like you and me, who share no such bond, any lessons would immediately be put to a stop. Now, considering that your __**teachers**__ seem dead-set against teaching you anything and you have no family to give you lessons, I believe you are at a severe disadvantage. Unfortunately, I don't believe people enforcing the Shinobi Code of Etiquette 24-C will care about your handicap."_

Naruto's eyes widened in fear, before he stammered, "So…can't we just… keep it a secret?", the boy asked sadly. Naruto swore he could _feel_ Runa smiling.

"_Precisely. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but you just failed their Academy for the second time, correct?" _Naruto nodded, sadly. _"And if I am correct, you failed not because your grades were abysmal, which they were by the way."_ Naruto had the decency to look sheepish at that. _"But because you failed to complete the Clone Technique, which you just proved you can do."_ Naruto nodded, still not sure where she was going with this. _"I propose that if you were to keep training the three Jutsu you learned at their Academy, especially the Clone technique, you should be able to graduate with minimal work involved."_

Naruto nodded, "Yea I guess."

"_Good, then outside of their Academy, you will concentrate on what I want you to learn: Acupressure/Anatomy, Medical Ninjutsu, Sealing Techniques."_

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "But…I thought you were going to teach me cool Ninjutsu?"

"_And once again you begin questioning me."_ The woman snapped.

Naruto's eyes widened, and before she could retort further, "I'm sorry Master! I didn't mean…I mean…that sounds really cool!" he said a little to forced. "So…where do we begin." Once again, silence was his answer for several moments, and once again Naruto began to feel that she had decided to abandon him.

"_When you return home, you will find two books and a scroll waiting for you on your kitchen table. The books are important, but the scroll is vital. To learn the technique I left for you on that scroll, you'll need to increase your chakra control dramatically, which is the key to the future techniques I plan to teach you. Now, before you go, there is one last thing I wish for you to know, Apprentice. For a time, I will be leaving you. It's conceivable that you will not hear from me for six months, perhaps even longer than that. It's very important that you don't try to call out to me, unless I speak with you first. This way, I can also prevent someone from sneaking up on you, and see you speaking with someone who is obviously not there."_

Naruto looked crestfallen at that. "Okay…but, when do I get to see you."

Naruto heard Runa chuckle in his head, _"I believe you've already 'seen' me. We've stood in front of each other, what more could you want."_

Naruto shook his head, "No I mean, when do I get to meet you for real."

"_When I see fit to come before you, for now, concentrate on your training and consider it a test of sorts, Apprentice." _Naruto nodded and began walking off, before he was stopped. _"Oh and Apprentice. I suggest against reading that book, on Sealing Techniques, anywhere except in the privacy of your own home."_ Naruto blinked at that, but before he managed to reply, Runa answered him. _"I can't say why, but know that some people will…not respond kindly to it. Now off you go."_

Naruto nodded, still a bit confused, but decided to forget about it for now. He quickly returned home.

* * *

It didn't take him too long before he arrived at his dingy apartment. Upon entering his home, he quickly found the things Runa left for him, on his kitchen table. He was about to grab the scroll before something caught his eye. It was a bright yellow sticky note on his refrigerator. With a small amount of confusion, Naruto grabbed the note and read it.

"_Naruto, I took the liberty of filling you refrigerator."_

_-Runa_

Naruto smiled, before he opened his fridge. When he did, his eyes widened, "RUNA…SENSEI…IS…AWESOME!"

Two miles away from Konohagakure, a black clothed figure sat on top of a rock. She turned her blue eyes when she heard a large figure drop down next to her.

She saw an unconscious, pale-skinned, malnourished, brunette in its arms. "Thank you Mojo, I owe you." She got up and walked towards the two.

The figure grinned and nodded, "I'll put it on your tab."

"Did you complete the other task I asked of you?"

Once again, it nodded, "Yea, though I have to ask why you wanted me to fill that boy's cooler. Excessive, no?"

Runa shook her head, "Not at all. For a game of chess cannot be won without pawns." She reached up and brushed a strand of brown hair out of the sleeping girl's face. "And this…could prove to be a very long game."

* * *

-x- Three months later –x-

The **Mystical Palm Technique** allowed the user to speed up the body's natural regeneration. It involved matching the chakra used to the severity of the wound and commanding the body to heal itself, using the user's chakra as the catalyst, the director, and the power source. It was created thirty-four years ago, by Tsunade Senju and to this day, is still the most sophisticated Medical Ninjutsu to date.

That wasn't the technique on the scroll Runa had left for Naruto, though the scroll did reference it, and made several points as to why Naruto would not be learning that technique yet. Chakra control being the central reason.

The technique on the scroll was the **Phoenix Technique**, named more for the creator's god-complex, not because it was first used to allow the user/creator to heal himself, in an aura of green chakra, mid-combat. Prior to Tsunade, the skill was the most advanced technique for a long time. Naruto was learning this technique because one could use either precise chakra control or a large amount of chakra to power it. The idea was for Naruto to learn the technique, using however much chakra it took to learn, and slowly reduce the amount necessary by applying more control. Unfortunately, there was one weakness: unlike the version Tsunade created, the user couldn't direct or control the healing; which on occasion caused the body to heal incorrectly.

For Medic-nins, the **Phoenix Technique** was obsolete. For non-medics who were in a non-combat emergency, the technique was still used by a few Leaf-nin.

Naruto stood in front of the stream, with a fish on the ground. The boy sighed as he held a kunai. The scroll stated that he was to cut an animal and use the technique to heal the wound. The notes made several references to fish.

After a month reading up on the technique, memorizing all twelve handseals- another thing that madethe **Mystical Palm Technique** superior was that it used only two handseals-, and doing _dry-runs_; Naruto was finally ready to make his first attempt at healing a living creature.

'It didn't make the next part any easier thought', the blonde thought before pressing the kunai the to fish.

* * *

-x- Two months later –x-

Naruto was actually getting into the Acupressure book. At first, it seemed like a waste of time to him. It detailed how hitting certain points in the body could numb certain appendages or cause significant harm to an internal organ.

Some points could also be used for beneficial purposes. Massaging or tapping some points in one's own body, or a patient's, could: ease a headache, cure a hangover, increase circulation, or even flexibility. At least, the book stated so.

He thus far, used it once in a spar with one of his new teachers, a man named Mizuki. It had been a rather one-sided fight, the man had obviously been going much harder on Naruto than any other student. On pure instinct, the boy struck two spots on the man's arm, one that Mizuki had neglected to block. Mizuki's right arm remained numb for an hour afterwards; something, which made the teacher constantly shoot dark looks at the young blonde.

Aside from acupressure points, the booked gave detailed pictures and names of the human body, but that wasn't the most interesting thing. The best part of it all was the fact that the book gave handwritten notes in the margins of the pages, notes probably written by Runa's hand. Small things like: hitting these points cause dizziness, slashing these veins/arteries causes great bleeding, hitting this bone this way will cause any easy break, or breaking a bone a certain way greatly shred flesh or muscle. He made it a habit to memorize these things as best as he could.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, there were quite a few of them to memorize. And the majority of them had to be hit just the right way, with just the right amount of strength. Another unfortunate problem was that memorizing these points wasn't enough. He had to learn how to utilize them in combat, instead of pure luck and instinct like his fight with Mizuki.

Naruto's gleamed when he read something in the top right corner of one of the last pages. "The Kiss of the Dragon."

* * *

-x- Three months later –x-

Sealing Techniques required one to learn another language. That's all those inscriptions were, a non-verbal language. You essentially wrote down what you wanted to the seal to do and it did it…so to speak.

The book Runa left for him was much smaller than the other one. Much, much smaller. It mostly just described how to read the language or how to combine _words_ together. It also described how to shrink certain seals into something that could not be read, and how to enlarge a seal into something that could be.

Oddly, in the beginning of the book, there was another note to Naruto to, _not read this book in public._ Naruto shrugged at the note.

* * *

-x- One month later –x-

It has been nine months after Naruto began his training, and he has still not heard a thing from Runa.

Naruto had come far in his training, thanks in no small part to the handwritten notes Runa had left in the books he had been reading.

He could honestly say that he remembered a good portion of the pressure points in the book. Unfortunately, since he spent so little time fighting other opponents, he hadn't sparred anyone after his match with Mizuki all those months ago, it left him with no practical knowledge. All the knowledge he had was theoretical, and was virtually useless unless he could practice using incorporating it in combat. Unfortunately, that was another problem he faced. Many of the things he learned could really hurt someone, something that he felt he should never use on an ally, yet he couldn't use in actual combat without the practical experience. It was a conundrum.

With respect to sealing, he finally understood the language well enough and just needed to practice the actual art form. He had planned to start sealing items in a scroll soon.

The Medical Ninjutsu was a lot harder than he initially believed, annoyingly so. On the bright side, he had plenty of fish to eat. He was close though, he was sure he saw the last fish begin to heal slowly, far to slow for it to survive bleeding out. It was a start.

A lot of time was spent perfecting the three Ninjutsu he was taught in the Academy. He finally perfected the **Clone Technique**, after practicing the steps Runa went over with him. He was proud of the fact that he could do it as quickly as he could. Even Iruka, one of his new teachers, was impressed at his speed.

Unfortunately, his grades at the Academy continued to slip. Since he spent so little time studying the topics the Academy covered, he continued receiving poor marks on his tests. But to be honest, he stopped caring about that. Sure it was nice to know that the Shodaime Hokage signed this treated, with this country, at this date…blah blah blah.

But all that crap left so little time for practical training, was that really the way to become a strong ninja? And why wasn't Sealing Techniques covered at the Academy? The greatest Hokage, the Yondaime, defeated the Kyuubi no Kitsune using a Sealing Technique…you would think that was enough reason to incorporate it into actual lessons. He almost voiced his opinion one day in class, to Iruka, but immediately discarded the idea. Asking that might make people think Naruto was interested in learning Sealing Techniques…which for some reason or another was bad.

Whatever…

* * *

-x- At the stream –x-

The blonde yawned when he kneeled over another fish. Using both hands, he slapped his cheeks to wake himself up, before placing his hands in the Dragon Seal.

"_Hard at work I see, good."_

Naruto's eyes widened and he smiled, "Runa-sensei!" Naruto cringed when he suddenly felt a small aura of killer intent in his head. "Um…I mean Master."

"_I'm glad our time apart hasn't made you forget me. I see I have arrived just in time to observe your training. Go on."_

Naruto began sweating. Almost unconsciously, he grabbed his kunai and made a long cut along the fish's side. He then began a long chain of hand seals before muttering, **"Phoenix Technique."** His hands glowed with green chakra and he placed them against the fish and began pushing his chakra into the creature. Three minutes went by and finally the cut seemed to begin to close. Unfortunately, it only took the fish a few more moments to bleed out completely. Naruto didn't say a thing. He failed…and he knew that he failed.

"_Hmmm, you're not as far along with that as I would have hoped. I'm disappointed."_

Tears stung Naruto's eyes, but he managed to hold them back on willpower alone. He honestly didn't think Runa would appreciate him crying.

"_But something did happen…so you're not a complete failure."_

Her words didn't do a thing to make Naruto feel better. "Ummm…Master, do you think you can show me how…just like you did with the **Clone Technique**."

"_Sit down and close your eyes", _she said ignoring the question.

Naruto did as he was told. In seconds, he found himself in front of Runa, her tall form towering over his seated one. They were both once again surrounded by the darkness.

"_Since you failed to do such a simple task-"_ once again Naruto flinched, _ "I'm going to try a little positive reinforcement."_ A figure appeared a few feet away from them. It was…Naruto?

Naruto's eyes widened, "He looks like me." It was true; the figure was a perfect carbon copy of Naruto. Though instead of Naruto's orange jumpsuit, it wore a black robe similar to what Runa wore. It was also missing Naruto's goggles.

"_Your ability to state the obvious is impressive, though it won't win you any battles. To be exact, this is merely an illusion that I'm creating through our bond. Now watch." _ Something else appeared ten yards away from them, this time it was a large boulder. It looked to be the size of a small building.

The Illusion raised one hand, opened palm, at the boulder. **"Heavenly Subjugation (of the Omnipresent God)." **Upon the last syllable, the boulder was immediately launched backwards at least fifty feet, making the real Naruto's eyes widened. Before it hit the ground, **"Heavenly Attraction (of All of Creation)."** Suddenly, through another unknown force, the boulder was launched again. This time towards them. Naruto's eyes widened before he quickly raised his hands in a futile attempt to defend himself. The boulder however, pass right through them, without doing them any harm.

"_Did you forget that I said it was all an illusion?"_ Runa smirked in amusement.

The statement caused Naruto to blush sheepishly.

It amused Runa even more that Naruto wasn't jumping up and down, saying how cool the technique was. _"If you haven't figured it out, I mean to teach you these two techniques, in fact I could teach you them in as little as a few days if I desired to."_ That got Naruto's eyes to light up, all previous humility shot to hell. _"However!"_ she snapped before Naruto could begin his rant. _"I will only teach these techniques IF you master the __**Phoenix Technique**__, by the time you become a Genin."_

Naruto quickly nodded, "Hell yeah! I'll master the technique before that and become a Genin. You'll see Master."

Runa nodded, _"I'm glad you feel that way. Because if you fail, I plan to abandon you."_

Naruto's eyes widened and tears began stinging them again. "But-" Runa immediately disappeared from his minds eye, something which made him immediately snap his eyes open. He was back in the forest.

"_I suggest you not waste anymore time whining. You only have three months left. Until then my apprentice."_

He waited a whole minute to see if she would say anything…then two minutes…then five minutes…then ten. After that, Naruto began to hyperventilate.

* * *

-x- ten miles away from Konoha –x-

Runa lazily got up from the spot she had been sitting in and began walking away.

"Done already?" Runa didn't turn to the feminine voice behind her. The girl shook some dirt out of her sea-foam green hair. "How'd he do?"

At that Runa finally stopped and turned to the young woman. "Surprisingly, much better than I thought he would do."

* * *

-x- three months later –x-

It was a full year since Naruto failed his second exam and it was now time for his third and, hopefully, final attempt. After waiting through the list of other students, Naruto quickly found himself in a room in front of his two teachers, Iruka and Mizuki.

"Naruto" Iruka began, "You only have the Ninjutsu portion of the exam left. I want you to perform the **Clone Technique**."

Naruto smiled. Though he continuously practiced all three techniques constantly, he put emphasis in practicing the **Clone Technique**. He's had it mastered for months now…though it never hurt to get in some more practice, in his opinion at least. He quickly went through the handseals, "Okay, here were go, **Clone Technique!**"

But something went wrong. He heard an explosion of smoke when he released his chakra. His heart sped up at that and he quickly looked to the side to once again see one…pale-colored and half-dead clone.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but you fail."

The blonde's eyes widened and his heart sank. 'How…' was the only thought he could muster.

"Naruto…you know there's one other way you could pass."

"There is?"

"Yea, we usually save it for students who are on the borderline. I mean I've seen you do that **Clone** **Technique** a hundred times before. The fact that you couldn't do it this _one time_ seems strange to me. I'm guessing you choked under pressure."

"Ummm…yea I guess."

"So anyway, the test sounds simple but is actually a lot harder than it'll sound…"

* * *

-x- four hours later –x-

A few hours later found Naruto in a clearing in the forest. His hands done up in a cross shape, **"Shadow Clone Technique!"** Suddenly three clones materialized at Naruto's side, making the blonde grin in triumph. He did it. He had been practicing the technique for the last hour but he finally managed to pull it off. Perhaps all the work on his chakra control, practicing the **Phoenix Technique**, was beginning to pay off. He quickly dispelled the clones before falling on his back, taking a moment to relax before he was _caught_.

"_Apprentice…" _His eyes snapped open when he heard Runa's voice. That's right, he had forgotten to figure out what he was going to tell Runa. _"What are you doing there- is that the Forbidden Scroll of Seals! What are you doing with it?"_ She demanded.

Naruto gave off an embarrassed grin. "Yea…I kinda failed the first exam…but since I was doing so well at the Academy, Mizuki-sensei let me take the bonus exam. Steal the scroll and learn a Ninjutsu from it."

* * *

-x- A mile away –x-

Runa immediately stood up, cutting the link between her and Naruto. "You little idiot!" she cursed.

"Something wrong?" a brunette girl called over from the side.

"Continue your meditation!" Runa snapped harshly before turning away. The elder quickly bit her thumb, drawing blood, and began doing a quick set of handseals, **"Summoning Art: Mojo!"**

* * *

-x- Naruto –x-

"Master? Master?" Naruto called out for the tenth time. He was beginning to get a grim feeling.

"FOUND YOU!"

"AAAHHHHHH!" Naruto jumped when Iruka appeared behind him. He quickly turned to the man and smiled.

'Has he been training?'

"I did it Iruka-sensei! I learned a technique from the scroll, that means I can pass just like Mizuki-sensei said right?"

Iruka's eyes widened, "Mizuki said what?"

They both heard the sound of a projectile moving through the air before Naruto was roughly shoved away. The sickening sound of metal cutting into flesh was heard throughout the clearing."

Naruto's eyes widened.

About a mile away, six shinobi stood in the middle of the forest. One of them was kneeling next a large dog.

The one kneeling next to the dog nodded, "The kid shouldn't be much farther away."

"Good, when we find that damn brat, I'm going to ring his little neck?"

"Anyone wonder how that kid managed to sneak that oversized scroll out of the tower to begin with? Especially when he was wearing that ridiculous costume."

The one who was kneeling next to the dog got up, "We'll ask him that after we catch him, now lets go-" A bush at the side of the road rustled, causing her to quickly pull out a kunai.

Before she got a chance to throw it, a shadow jumped out of the bush, wielding a bamboo staff.

The Chunin's eyes widened.

Naruto and Iruka stood in the middle of a large clearing. Iruka was kneeling down, obviously injured.

"How…" Iruka began. "How did you know that I was not Iruka?" A cloud of smoke erupted around Iruka's form. When it cleared it revealed a panting Mizuki.

"Because…" this time Naruto's form was enveloped in smoke, "I'm Iruka." The man said before he fell back, letting himself lean against a tree.

Mizuki growled his former colleague and friend, "Why are you protecting that freak? You know what he did to your parents, what he did to our village! And you sure as hell know what he's going to do now. He's going to use the scroll to obtain power and take revenge on the village. That's how monters think!"

Iruka's eyes narrowed, "Your right, that is how monsters think…but that's not how Naruto thinks. He messes up a lot, plays pranks, and people tend to jump on him for that, but that doesn't make him a monster. He's Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf Village, not the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Mizuki rolled his eyes at the man, before he reached for his last shurikan. "Fine, if that's what you want, then you can die with him!" Mizuki threw the shurikan at Iruka, right before getting a fist to the face, which sent him flying back several feet. When he got back up he saw Naruto standing in front of him.

Iruka dodged to the right, avoiding a direct kill, but still received a long slash across his chest. At the sound Naruto quickly turned towards Iruka, before turning back towards Mizuki, tears and fire in his eyes. "If you ever touch my sensei again…I'LL KILL YOU!"

Mizuki smirked, "Just try it Kyuubi! I'll kill you with one blow!"

"Just try it fool…I'll send it right back a thousand fold, **Shadow Clone Technique!**" Suddenly hundreds of Naruto suddenly materialized in the clearing. And they were all grinning at Mizuki.

With wide eyes, Mizuki did the only thing he could do, he screamed, "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mizuki went down in just under twenty seconds. Afterwards, after dispelling the clones, Naruto quickly turned and ran towards Iruka. The man was bleeding profusely from the wound in his chest.

"Naruto…get…the…scroll…and run…back to…the…village", Iruka said in between pants, coughing up a bit of blood.

"Iruka-sensei…" the boy said sadly.

"Go…hurry up!"

The blonde scowled. "I can help." He quickly began doing a quick series of handseals.

"Naruto…just-"

"**Phoenix Technique!**" green chakra encircled Naruto's hands, which he placed against Iruka's chest. Almost instantly, the bleeding stopped. In half a minute, the wound began to close. In one minute, the wound was half closed. One minute and fifty-six seconds after he began the technique, the wound, and the small cuts Iruka suffered before hand, closed.

Throughout the process, Iruka could only stare over Naruto in shock. "Naruto…how did you…"

Naruto just grinned, panting softly.

The act caused Iruka to smile, "Naruto close your eyes." Naruto cocked his head to the side in curiosity before he did as he was told. Naruto felt Iruka wrap something around his head, before he was allowed to open his eyes again. He saw Iruka, minus the hitai-ate, smiling at him.

Unfortunately, before they could speak further, five ANBU suddenly appeared around both Naruto and Iruka. Two of them immediately made a move towards Naruto, which made Iruka's eyes widened, "WAIT! It wasn't his fault. Mizuki tricked him into stealing the forbidden scroll."

That made the ANBU pause. Four of them turned towards the center one, and dog-masked ANBU.

The dog-masked ANBU took a glance at Mizuki before glancing towards both Naruto and Iruka. Before he could say anything, he heard the buzz of the radio in his mask. _"Buzz…what Iruka-kun said was true. Send Naruto to my office and take the necessary actions against Mizuki."_

Not betraying the fact that he had been given orders by the Hokage, "Nightingale, escort Naruto-kun AND the scroll to the Hokage's office. Panther, take Iruka to the hospital." He said after noting the blood on Iruka's clothes.

"Actually." Iruka said, while getting up. "Naruto here already healed me up."

If he weren't wearing a mask, they would have seen Dog's raised eyebrow. "Explain."

"I did the **Phoenix Technique**", Naruto answered, obviously quite proud of himself.

Dog filed that piece of information in the back of his mind under, get more answers later, "Nightingale!"

The bird-masked ANBU went up to Iruka and immediately her - they assumed it was a her by the feminine figure - hands glowed green. She touched them to Iruka chest for a few moments before answer, not even turning her head, "Rough and unrefined, but not bad. He'll heal completely in just under a day by my estimation."

Dog nodded, "Good, but get him checked up just the same." He then turned towards Mizuki and walked off, with the other two ANBU right behind him. Panther shrugged, before he gestured for Iruka to follow him. Naruto followed behind Nightingale.

All three ANBU stood around Mizuki. The one with an Otter-masked sighed, "Dumb schmuck. Why do you think he did it?"

"My guess?" Dog began. "The usual, power. He got Naruto involved because…well let's face it, what better scapegoat. Tiger, check the damage."

"Does it look like an army went through here, or is it just me?" was Tiger's only reply before going down on one knee. A quick set of handseals, and his hands glowed green. Dog took a moment to look around and agreed, something odd did happen. After a moment, Tiger sighed and turned towards his leader. "Probably should have kept Nightingale here. He has multiple broken bones, including a few ribs. If we move him, chances are **something** will get punctured. I can't heal this out here." He said as he stood up.

"I see." He paused when he heard another call on his radio.

"_Dog! Can you here me? Over."_

Dog pressed his hand to the side of his mask, "Five by five, Horse. What is it, over."

"_There was a battle in the area my team was deployed. Six of ours are injured, plus one Inuzuka hound. No visible enemies in the area, over."_

Dog cursed, "Copy that. Send up a flare and I'll be there in a moment, over and out." He got up and looked towards his comrades. "Set up a perimeter around the traitor and stay in the shadows. I'll send a medical squad to move the traitor as soon as possible." Left unsaid was the possibility of the enemy coming to retrieve Mizuki, but both Tiger and Otter were experienced enough to read between the lines.

"Yes sir!" And they both disappeared in the trees.

Dog disappeared as well.

Five minutes later and Tiger flew back into the clearing and smashing into the ground, unconscious. Otter was immediately on high alert. Luckily, or unluckily, he found the enemy quickly enough.

He wore an oriental styled black robe, and a large straw hat. In his left hand was a long bamboo staff, probably the weapon he used to incapacitate Tiger. By the way he was standing, and holding the weapon, it was obvious he was quite skilled in its use. The wasn't the most startling thing the. He, Otter, wasn't looking at a man. He was looking at a…bear. A bear with white and black fur. It completely caught him off guard, but he managed to tense up when he saw the…bear…grin.

It rested it's staff on it's shoulders, before bending his knees, "I…bring…**PANDA**-MONIUM!"

* * *

-x- Hokage's Office –x-

Naruto stood in front of the Hokage, and it was quite obvious that he was not happy.

Hiruzen wanted to smash Mizuki's face in for revealing the truth about the Kyuubi to Naruto. He had wanted to do so personally, in a controlled environment. "I know what Mizuki told you Naruto, and I'm sure you are quite angry that I hid the truth from you."

Naruto nodded, trying to stay as calm as possible. "Just tell me the truth…why me?"

The old man sighed, wishing this were something he could make-up for with promises of sweets. Worked with his kids. "First understand, you are in no way, shape, or form the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The demon was a thing that couldn't be killed, so the Yondaime Hokage sealed the beast into a child. For a child, just born, was the only thing a demon could be sealed into. In truth, there were only two children born that day and you just happened to be born first." It was a partial truth, but he hoped it would satisfy Naruto for now. He honestly didn't think the boy was ready to learn everything, and he personally wasn't in any hurry to be the one to reveal it all.

Naruto's head fell, his hair covering his eyes. Iruka's hitai-ate was in Naruto's lap, allowing his hair the freedom necessary to hide his eyes from view. A few minutes went by before Hiruzen broke the silence.

"Naruto, may I ask you a question now?"

Naruto's face lifted slightly. Not a lot, just enough so he could see the aged Hokage. He gave a slight nod.

"I've seen you used two Ninjutsus that you should have no knowledge of. The **Shadow Clone Technique**, you obviously got from the scroll. But I can't think of a single place where you could have learned the **Phoenix Technique**. Would you mind filling in that gap." Only a few ANBU ever bothered to learn that jutsu, and that was mostly for emergencies. He doubted that one of them would have taught it to Naruto, so it was a question as to how he came across it.

Naruto immediately looked nervous. 'I'm not suppose to tell anyone about Runa…so what do I-"

"_Apprentice."_

"RUNA!" Naruto accidentally shouted, surprising both the old man and himself. He immediately clamped his hand over his mouth and looked very much like a deer caught in the headlights.

'Runa?' Hiruzen thought curiously.

"_Expect reprimanding at a later date for allowing my name to slip in that fashion, something like that is unbecoming of a shinobi. However, in this case, you may go ahead and tell him about me. About us."_

"Ummm…okay." Naruto said in slight confusion. "Ummm, I've been getting outside help, from a ninja of Leaf. She said I shouldn't tell anybody, because it was illegal for a ninja to teach a person who isn't a ninja yet."

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed slightly, "Shinobi Code of Etiquette 24-C, that isn't completely accurate, but close enough to the truth I suppose."

Naruto nodded, "Well, I met Runa a year ago. She helped me learn the **Clone Technique**, right after I failed the second time. Then she gave me two books and a scroll, the scroll had the **Phoenix Technique**. She said it was a good skill for someone like me to learn."

Hiruzen looked at Naruto curiously, "I'd have to agree with that…but who is she exactly? I've made it a habit to learn the name and faces of all those who work under me, and I can honestly say I've never heard of anyone with the first name Runa."

Naruto looked up, obviously searching through his memory. "Well, I think she's really old. Pale skin, white hair, blues eyes. I think she likes wearing dark robes to…"

"You think? You don't actually know what she looks like?" Hiruzen asked in confusion. This was becoming disturbing.

Naruto shook his head, "Not really. I've only seen her in my head."

Hiruzen began to sweat somewhat, 'could the Kyuubi be communicating with Naruto...but how would the demon give Naruto the books and the scroll. That can't be it.'

"She said she communicates with me telepathically…"

Hiruzen's eyes widened, "KREIA!" he screamed as he slammed his fists into the table. It obviously startled Naruto, as he flinched back. Suddenly, a transparent image appeared between Naruto and Hiruzen. It was obvious that Naruto didn't see it, but Hiruzen's eyes narrowed at the figure. 'Kreia Yamanaka', he thought, knowing Kreia would hear him. It also had the affect of not allowing Naruto to hear the impending conversation.

"_I'm glad to see our time apart hasn't made you forget about me, Hiruzen."_

'How…**dare**…you sink your claws into Naruto.'

She cocked her head to the side and gave the third a small smile. She knew he hated when she did that. _"Would it have been better if he had failed?"_

'YES! It would have. I won't allow you to ruin Naruto like you ruined Orochimaru!' A little known fact about the Sannin was that Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't there only teacher. Around the time they all turned sixteen, Hiruzen was caught up in many of the duties that being Hokage entailed. At that time, they all had quite the balanced repertoire of Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu, and were way above some who were many years older than they were. So as to not stunt there growth, he arranged for private tutors.

Tsunade studied under Reimi Hyuuga, the village's leading medic at that time. Under Reimi, Tsunade took her first steps to becoming the world's greatest Medic-nin.

Jiraiya, studied under Jin Uzuki. It was originally meant for Jiraiya to learn Ninjutsu and Taijutsu from the man; however what he mostly learned was the art of spying. Not only did Jiraiya become a more efficient spy, Jin also taught Jiraiya how to form a spy network. It was something only Jin and a few others were ever proficient in. And Jiraiya obviously ran with it.

Orochimaru, on the other hand, studied under another legendary figure by the name of Kreia Yamanaka. She was suppose to teach Orochimaru Ninjutsu, enough to crave the, by then, young man's thirst for knowledge. Unfortunately, she took it to a new level and introduced Orochimaru to Kinjutsu (forbidden techniques). Many dark and ancient things, which should have remained buried forever. The rest, as they say, is history.

Kreia scoffed, _"You still haven't accepted the truth I see? We both know that the Snake was beyond redemption. If I am to blame, it was only because I gave him the knowledge he wanted." _Kreia furrowed her eyes, _"And __**you**__ gave him the power, if I do recall."_

'Don't you DARE start with that nonsense! This ends now, I won't allow Naruto to speak with **you** anymore!'

Kreia once again cocked her head, and gave him a small smile.

Hiruzen looked through her and saw Naruto's eyes widened, before the boy's head snapped to a picture, of Minato Namikaze, on the wall. Hiruzen's heart dropped, 'Oh shit…'

He then turned his head towards Hiruzen, "The Fourth Hokage is my father?"

And then Kreia started laughing.

Hiruzen growled, 'You bitch…' Why was it that Kreia was the only person who could get Hiruzen to abandon all forms of decency and civility? Not to mention self-respect.

Kreia's specter then got right in front of Hiruzen's face. _'I wonder how he'll feel when he finds out what you did to his mother.'_ Hiruzen's heart nearly stopped. _"Ah, yes. Kushina, she wanted to take Naruto back home with her, but __**you**__ wouldn't allow it. You were afraid of what would happen if an enemy country got there hands on the Kyuubi's powers. So…you destroyed Kushina's memories and replaced them with memories of a girl that wasn't even her own. That girl is now living Naruto's life…and Naruto…well we both know what kind of life my apprentice is living."_

Hiruzen was breathing hard.

"Why didn't you tell me that the Fourth Hokage was my father?"

"_So…you don't want me to teach Naruto and you don't want Naruto to learn the truth about his mother. In truth, he'll probably run away to go find her. I see only one-way for you to achieve both of these criteria Hiruzen. Kill Naruto."_

The Hokage's eyes widened. 'WHAT!'

"_Kill him. I won't abandon my claim on him, and if you try to take him away, I'll reveal to him the truth about Kushina and your hand in her disappearance. So, the way I see it, your only choice is to kill Naruto."_

"Everyone already knows about the fox, does that mean they know about my **father** too?"

"_Go ahead Hiruzen, you already mutated his life into something that is now unrecognizable. The least you could do is put him out of his misery."_

"It's true isn't it, everybody knows!"

"_Kill him! KILL HIM NOW!"_

"SHUT UP!" Everyone in the tower, even Danzou who was on the floor under the Hokage's office, froze.

Naruto got the worst of it though. The poor boy looked like he was about ready to crawl into a hole and die somewhere. And Hiruzen was about ready to join him, to be quite honest. His heart was going a mile a minute and he was breathing hard.

Once again, Kreia gave that innocent smile. _"After Orochimaru, you had the nerve to take away my former apprentices from me, and the gall to re-teach them lessons I had already taught." _Kreia's specter then got in Hiruzen's face. _"So let's get one thing straight. Naruto…is…MINE. I have already suffered your corruption of my students in the past and you shall not have this one. Goodbye Hiruzen" _With that, Kreia disappeared. _"Oh…and if you behave yourself, I may decide to tell you of the plot to destroy Konoha."_

Hiruzen sighed, before he rested his hands on his table. He suddenly felt every second of his age. 'How the hell does Kreia do this to me?'

* * *

Far away, Kreia smiled. She looked around the clearing, glancing at the two unconscious ANBU and then to Mizuki still unconscious next to her.

"So, you been having a conversation with an old lover or something?"

Kreia grinned, "Something like that." She kneeled down and placed her palm on Mizuki's chest. "Awaken, fool."

Mizuki's eyes snapped open.

* * *

-x- Omake –x-

Mojo, the Pandaren Brewmaster, scratched his chin, "The young masta is quite amazing, don't you think?"

Runa nodded as she reclined in her chair, "I wouldn't have picked him if I didn't think he had potential."

Not only did he finally learn the **Phoenix **Technique, but he also managed to learn the **Shadow Clone **in such a short amount of time. So I sent the young masta gift."

Kreia's eyes widened slightly, "I thought I told you to clear any _gifts_ with me first." Mojo never…used the most common sense whenever he gave someone a gift. Like that incident where he gave a six year old a fully functioning crossbow, and for got to mention that it was _fully funictioning_.

Mojo just waved her concern off. "You worry to much mistress, I definitely gave something good this time."

"And what, pray tell, would that be?"

"Ice, cold ale," He said, slapping the large barrow he was carrying around.

Kreia's looked at him in shocked. "Ale…_your_ ale?"

Mojo nodded cheerfully, "And don't worry, I signed it under your name. No need to thank me."

For the first time in decades, Kreia was afraid.

-x—x-

Naruto sighed as he slammed the door of his apartment shut. The talk between himself and the old man, and technically Runa, was…hell to say the least. He definitely needed some time alone to think.

As he was passing by his kitchen, he noticed the bucket on his kitchen counter, with the brown bottle sticking out of it. Staring at it curiously for a moment, he went to check on it, noticing that the bucket was fool of ice, which the bottle was submerged in.

He quickly found a sticky note attached to it, "Naruto, congratulations on passing your exam. –Runa"

Naruto smiled as he grabbed the body and admired it for a moment. Looked to be about two liters, if he was measuring correctly. Shrugging, he used his teeth to pull the cork out of the bottle. Whatever _Runa_ got for him, he silently hoped it tasted sweet…though he'd probably enjoy it no matter how it tasted. It was from _Runa_ after all.

He quickly took a small sip.

-x—x-

"Naruto…" Hiruzen sighed at the boy. It was obvious the boy was acting out even more. Sadly Hiruzen couldn't really fault the boy, he himself would probably do the same given the same situation. "Take the picture again, and take it of your face this time. Our customers are going to have to recognize you and I seriously doubt they'll be able to recognize a picture of you ass." At least he really hoped not. And when the hell did he get that tattoo, _'Property of Anko.' _Hiruzen would have to have a…chat with that woman.

Naruto blinked in confusion, "Huuuuuuuuuuuuhh….but…I…what?"

Hiruzen rolled his eyes, if the boy wanted to _act_ like a drunk, then Hiruzen wasn't about to amuse him. Less he start behaving like this more often.

"**Sexy Technique!"** Hiruzen's eyes widened when he saw the _faux_-drunk, blond bombshell. Trip over her…own feet apparently and fall on her ass. But even that was enough to down the old pervert with a massive nosebleed.

A puff of smoke later and Naruto was back, laughing his ass off pointing at Hiruzen. Or…to be more exact he was pointing a picture of Hiruzen, the one that happened to be on the wall. "I got…yoooooooouuuuuuu…old man." The blonde laughed to himself.

Hiruzen got up and stared at the boy in annoyance, "Na-ru-to."

The door slammed open, "I got you this time old man-yaahhh!" A boy suddenly ran into the room, only to trip over his own oversized scarf. Thanks to a sudden roll, the boy ended up right at Naruto's feet, whom at that point stopped laughing, to look at the boy. Konohamaru suddenly stood up and glared at Naruto, "HEY YOU! You tripped me!"

Naruto blinked a few times, before pointing at Konohamaru, "Is that my ass…is that what my ass looks like?" he asked looking towards the Hokage.

-x—x-

Naruto sighed. After a long and boring argument, Naruto decided to exit the Hokage's office. Unfortunately, the 'annoying brat', also known as, Konohamaru decided to follow him, demanding to be taught the secret of the **Sexy Technique.** The blonde sighed again, he really needed another stip of what Kreia left for him. He smiled, as he pulled the bottle out of his back pack and quickly took another small sip…the third thus far.

"HEY! What's that?" Konohamaru asked, curiously.

Naruto gave Konohamaru a weird look, before offering the boy the bottle. "Have a sip."

-x—x-

Naruto was actually impressed with Konohamaru. He was proving to be more devious than himself. After sneaking into a porn shop, he decided to continue his day by urinating his name on the side of a building.

Seriously, he managed to write "Konohamaru" and was currently working on "wuz here" to finish the message off.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" A blue clothed ninja, with sunglasses, landed right next to Konohamaru. Unfortunately, this had the unfortunate effect of drawing Konohamaru's attention…which had the unfortunate side effect redirecting the boy's aim at Ebisu. "STOP THAT AT ONCE!"

Naruto suddenly began laughing his ass off as he continued to cradle his new favorite drink. Konohamaru just stared at Ebisu in a drunken haze. Ebisu looked passed Konohamaru, and at Naruto…or more specifically, the drink in Naruto's hand. He disappeared and reappeared in front of Naruto, snatching the drink out of Naruto's hand. "HEY!" both Naruto and Konohamaru complained.

"So, this is the cause of your damn binge. You both have been drinking alcohol!"

"No we haven't." Naruto replied.

"Yes you have." Ebisu shot back through clenched teeth.

"No we haven't." Konohamaru replied.

"Oh really, so your saying if I take a sip of this, that I won't taste any alcohol whatsoever!"

Naruto and Konohamaru quickly looked at each other, before shrugging.

Ebisu growled, "Well, let's see then", he said with more than a little sarcasm. He took a quick swig from the bottle.

-x—x-

The less said about what happened during the next day, the better. By the end of it, Naruto was alone in his apartment, luckily looking no worse for wear.

When he first cracked open his right eye, the first thing he saw was that thrice damned bottle of ale, still half full. Through the mind-numbing pain he experienced in his head, he decided one thing…he was getting rid of the bottle. The first thing he did was rub his head, before pressing some acupressure points around his head. Quickly enough his hangover began to subside. He didn't even want to think about what happened after he ditched Konohamaru and Ebisu.

-x—x-

"WAKE UP!"

Ebisu groaned as he was suddenly kicked in the side. He got up and glared at the offender, only to discover the foot was attached to a woman dressed like an ANBU. And two others flanked her.

"Ebisu, you are under arrest."

Even through his hangover induced state, Ebisu heard the woman loud and clear. "What…why!"

"You want a complete list?"

He looked at her fearfully for a moment before nodding slightly. What the hell did he do last night?

The one in front of Ebisu, Cat, pulled out a notebook. "Three counts of indecent exposure, one count of a lewd act, one count of bribery, five counts of assaulting Konoha civilians…one of which was a young girl, who's Hymen was broken when you pushed her off the second story window, so RAPE…one count of throwing feces at civilians." She quickly flipped the book to the next page, "Now for the orphans you adopted."

"I adopted orphans?"

"Twenty-two actually. Twenty-two counts of denying children food. Twenty-two counts of selling children as food…"

Ebisu's eyes widened as Cat continued the long list of offenses.

"And finally, as of this morning, one count of insulting elders of Konohagakure by saying, and I quote, _'You oldz azz bitchesz and suckz my big one, skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet."_

Ebisu sat there, blinking for a few moments, "They…didn't appreciate that I assume…"

"It didn't well, no." Cat finished calmly.

-x—x-

Naruto walked outside, and to the dumpster that happened to be outside of his apartment building. He stood on his toes, ready to dump the bottle into the dumpster.

"STOP THAT UNYOUTHFUL ACT!"

Naruto turned to see…someone wearing a green jumpsuit, suddenly appear next to him.

"What are you doing, your just going to dump that water into that dumpster. People die of dehydration everyday in the desert and your just going to dump it!" Rock Lee said incredulously.

Naruto blinked a few times. He thought about telling the kid that they didn't live anywhere near the desert…but he was still having trouble forming coherent sentences, so he decided against it. He just shrugged and offered Rock Lee the bottle.

Obviously the boy was thirsty, or he was really against letting things go to waste, because he quickly gulped down the remaining half of the bottle. But quite frankly, the less said about a drunken Rock Lee running around…the better.

* * *

**A/N: **

**1. Kreia is a character from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2. I used a few quotes, she uses in the game. For thus of you who guessed her identity when i referred to her as Runa, bravo.**

**2. Mojo is a Pandaren Brewmaster. Pandarens belong to the Warcraft universe. Always wanted to have them in a fic (them and Ninja turtles). Chen Stormstout will probably end up being the Animal Boss. I doubt i'll give them a giant animal (Gamabunta sized). At best he'll probably be about the size of Monkey King Enma (same as all the other pandaren), with the ability to transform into a badass weapon. I haven't decided what though.**

**3. Like i said, above, I'm not one hundred percent sure if i'll continue this or not, so if anyone's interested i'll probably turn it into a challenge fic. Just send me a link to the fic (fyi: Please don't be upset with me if i don't get a chance to read your fic). If enough people get interested, i'll throw a few ideas up in my profile.  
**

**Anyway, please review.  
**


	2. Becoming a Genin

**A/N: In truth I wasn't one hundred percent sure I would continue this fic, but I suppose I've just been getting so many ideas that I couldn't help myself. If I can, I'll try to have an update out every weekend (though I wouldn't count on that to last long).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or the character Kreia (alias: Runa). Though her appearance is not exactly like that in Kotor (Knights of the Old Republic), her personality and traits are all from the game. For the purposes of this chapter…I also don't own Rosari+Vampire, Fairy Tail, Bleach, Evangelion (and any other anime I make reference to this specific chapter…you'll know the scene in which they appear)**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Becoming a Genin**

-x- Flashback -x-

"I did it to protect you Naruto. You see your father had a lot of enemies outside of the village, many who were petty enough to try and kill his only living child."

"But if you would have announced it, no one would have hated me for being the Kyuubi!"

Hiruzen sighed, "I disagree. I thought about it constantly, wondering if I told them you were the Yondaime's legacy, they probably wouldn't hate you. They probably would see you as a hero and would understand the terrible burden that you carry every second of a every day." The old man sighed, "However, after they turned on you the first time, I quickly lost faith in the people. I don't think it would have mattered who your father was. They would have rationalized that the son of their hero was destroyed and the Kyuubi had the _gall_ to inhabit his empty body, or some such nonsense. And then, not only would you have had to deal with the people of Konoha, you would have had to deal with assassins from other Shinobi villages as well." The old man paused for a moment to take a long drag of his pipe, before continuing. "Honestly, if I believed that your life would have turned better here, I would have revealed the truth. Assassins be damned. Perhaps I made the wrong decision, but like I said, I lost faith."

The blonde pouted, understanding the old man's viewpoint. "But why didn't you tell **me**? Didn't I have the right to know, that my father wasn't an old drunk or that my mother was a whore."

The old man frowned at the blonde, "I told you repeatedly that your parents were both great shinobi; that your father died in battle and your mother died giving birth to you. However…" The old man shut his eyes tightly, mentally wondering what kind of bastard would tell a child their mother was a whore. "I am sorry that you had to hear those awful lies. And to answer your question, I didn't tell you because I was afraid you wouldn't be able to keep it a secret."

Naruto, obviously registered the slight much faster than Hiruzen gave him credit for, slammed his fists the Hokage's table, "So what, you LIED to me, because YOU couldn't trust ME!"

The Hokage frowned again. When put in that form, which was quite accurate really, it truly did sound bad. "When you were being teased and ridiculed, can you really say you would have stopped yourself from screaming out, the Yondaime was your father or something of that nature to prove them wrong? In an unnecessary attempt to prove to those fools that your life did have meaning? Most would have probably thought you were lying, and may have retaliated against your possible comments. But some may have believed you, or at least had been suspicious. And then it would have all been for not."

The blonde sighed as he got up from the chair he was seated in. He then looked at the Hokage through tearful eyes. The boy was obviously angry, but the lack of an outburst clearly meant that the boy understood the Hokage's side of the argument. "And my mother?"

Hiruzen held his breath. "Your mother?"

"Who was she? Is she dead to?"

The Hokage let go of the breath he was holding, though he managed to do it without the boy noticing it. "Her name was Kushina Uzumaki, and like I mentioned earlier she happened to be a very powerful Kunoichi. She was…actually a lot like you, personality-wise."

Naruto nodded, "Is she dead?"

Hiruzen paused for a moment. He really wanted to come right out and tell him the truth. Another possibility was to lie and say she abandoned him for what he was. He could also say he wasn't sure what happened to her, that she just disappeared, though that was probably the worse lie possible, if he could even pull it off. But in the end, all he could say was, "Yes, what I said earlier was true, she died during childbirth." All he could do was cover his own ass. No telling how far things could get out of had if the blonde went investigating.

The blonde smiled, as he stood up. To Hiruzen, that smiled held a spark of insanity that made the old man shiver, "The first life the **demon** took, eh."

Hiruzen's eyes widened as the boy turned around to walk out the door. "Naruto wait!" The boy stopped, and turned slightly to the old man. "You. Are. Not. A. Demon. Don't ever think any different."

The blonde, who looked little more than a living corpse gave a ghost of a smile and then turned to leave.

-x- End Flashback -x-

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office, cradling his aching head within the palms of his hands. He truly had no idea the blonde was that bad off. He knew his constant smiling was nothing but an act to mask his loneliness, but in truth it seemed the boy's sanity was hanging on a thread. Maybe the original thread had broken and he had already fallen…until Kreia reached out to him that is…

Hiruzen scowled. Why the hell couldn't he had seen things sooner. Why the hell did it have to be Kreia that saved the boy, and not someone more…readable? In many ways he'd prefer if Orochimaru were the one teaching Naruto, at least then Hiruzen would know what to expect. Kriea was too much of a wildcard for Hiruzen to ever be able to read…perhaps the reason she was able to connect with the boy in such an obvious way. The man sighed; he had to think about his options.

The first option was to just allow Kreia to teach Naruto, essentially to wait and see what the woman had planned. For very obvious reasons, he counted a total of twenty-three, Hiruzen decided to put that plan at the very end of his list and label it under _'fuck, no'_.

The second plan, and the most obvious one, would be to get Naruto away from Kreia. Either reveal the woman's nature to the boy or, if that didn't work, put the boy under protective custody to prevent Kreia from using him in any plot. Unfortunately, Naruto's protests and retaliations aside, Kreia simply had far too much information on Konohagakure to simply allow herself to be cut out of Naruto's life. If the boy found out the truth about his mother, he would almost instantly cut all ties with Sarutobi, and by extension Konoha. She could also reveal to Kushina Hiruzen's treachery, which could have the unfortunate affect of turning Whirlpool against them. Unfortunately, the Kazama clan simply had too much influence over Whirlpool, and Kushina's brother, the clan head, sure as hell wouldn't let something like this slide. Fifteen year old alliance be damned

The third plan would be to simply…kill Naruto, the _safe_ plan. They could cut off Kreia's plans before they even start. And if Kreia decided to reveal the truth to Kushina, they could always deny it as nonsense, by simply making all traces and evidence of the boy disappear.

Sarutobi sighed. The third plan was obviously the best for Konoha…but he just couldn't bring himself to go through with it. Naruto was…innocent. His only crime was being born on October 10th, why the hell did he deserve to be executed because of that. In his head, he could choose between Konoha and Naruto. The obvious answer was Konoha, _the needs of the many_ and what not. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that he could still save Naruto from Kreia's clutches. Perhaps he was being foolish, but he would have to go with a wait and see approach. There was also the matter that, despite the fact that Hiruzen viewed Kreia as evil incarnate, she had yet to make a move _directly_ again Konoha. The man sighed…

'I'll have to bring Jiraiya in on this.' But there was still the problem of Naruto's obvious skill-set. The **Shadow Clone technique** was explainable, but the **Phoenix Technique** wasn't something the boy could explain as learning within the forbidden scroll, simply because it wasn't **in** the scroll.

Sarutobi shrugged, all else fails, and someone too important to ignore asked, he'd tell them that Jiraiya had given the boy a few private lessons.

The man sighed, now he just needed to find out what Kreia meant by, _plot to destroy Konoha_.

* * *

-x- Later that night –x-

Almost immediately after Naruto made it to his apartment, he called out to Runa. "Runa- I mean, Master?"

"_I knew you'd call out to me my young apprentice. You have questions I presume."_

"Is my mother dead?" were the first words to come out of Naruto's mouth. He wanted really wanted to believe in the elder Kage, but he already lied to the boy once…twice if you counted the fact that he didn't reveal the whole truth about his father. He really didn't have much to go on unfortunately.

"_I'm sorry my apprentice, but in truth I only know what the fire shadow, your Hokage, knows."_ It was true. She knew everything the Hokage knew regarding the boy.

Unfortunately for Naruto, he misconstrued Runa's words in the exact way she knew he would, "Oh…" The blonde sighed sadly as he sat in his bed.

"_Naruto…the past can't give you what you desire. You have to look towards the future and make your own place in the world. If you choose to continue your studies under me, I will give you the ability to do just that."_

The blonde smiled a bit. "Are you going to be my Jounin-sensei?"

"_I don't need to be your Jounin-sensei to teach you, in fact becoming your Jounin-sensei would only hinder that task. Aside from that, our connection must continue to remain a secret, even the fire shadow agreed." _That last part wasn't entirely a lie, she knew for a fact that Hiruzen would prefer it that way.

Naruto didn't really feel like questioning why they should keep their relationship a secret, at this point he was willing to label it as another thing that he didn't understand, but that someone else had already thought about much more thoroughly than he did. There was one thing that he was curious about, "Do you and old man Hokage hate each other?"

That caught Runa off guard, _"Oh, and what brought on this question?"_

The blonde shrugged, though he didn't think Runa could actually see him do that – she could – and sighed, "The way he looked when the two of you were talking…could he talk to you by just thinking?"

"_Your asking one question, within another question. In some cultures that is considered rude…it's also an easy way to get sidetracked."_

The blonde smiled sheepishly.

"_To answer your second question, yes, we were having a rather lengthy conversation. Make no mistake, I can't read a person's mind using the technique I use to communicate with you. I don't know what you're thinking right now. The fire shadow, however, knows how to project his words out in a way that allows the two of us to communicate, without him having to speak out his words. He doesn't have the same ability I do, he just knows how to allow me to communicate with him much more efficiently and silently."_

Naruto nodded, "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"_Again you stray away from your original question. Do you really want an answer to it?" _Once again, the boy looked sheepish. _"To answer your __third__ question, yes, I will teach you, perhaps after I help you learn the first two techniques I promised. Learning how to speak to me silently isn't something that will be necessary for you at the moment."_

Naruto nodded, though he was a bit put out. "So…do you and the old man hate each other?" In truth he didn't want to find out the truth. The old man was still the closest thing he had to family, all things aside, and Runa had become pretty close to him as well. Aside from Iruka, they were pretty much all he had. It really would upset him a lot if the two of them disliked each other.

"_Do I hate the Fire Shadow? No. He's done things to me that had me upset for quite some time, but I don't actually hate him. I do disrespect many of his methods, mostly his methods in dealing with children."_

"Why's that?"

"_He has a firm belief that children need to remain __**innocent**__ and __**pure**__", _the way she spat those words showed exactly what she thought of that concept, _"a concept that doesn't work for people in situations like yours."_

"Yea…" Naruto agreed spitefully.

"_People like you need to be taught how to confront what you are head on, it's not something that should have ever been hidden from you. He says you should have learned when you were older…I say you were old enough when you first joined their academy." _Kreia sighed, in an obvious sign of frustration, one of the few emotions she had ever shared with Naruto._ "A child who trains to become a ninja, a killer, can't be shied away from unfortunate information." _

Naruto nodded slightly to himself, he definitely understood where Runa was coming from.

"_Now, you will need to visit your scarred teacher to receive instructions in filling out your registration form, then you should have a day off to begin your training. Be prepared for it."_

Naruto nodded, and gave a small 'yea'. He then began getting ready for bed. It was far too late…

* * *

-x- Training Ground -x-

A few days later found Naruto sitting in the middle of the forest. On the ground around him were dozens of symbols drawn into the dirt. He had been meditating for the last hour of so and on the outside looked very calm. On the inside though, he was having an intense training session with Runa.

"_Good, I didn't feel the pulse of chakra that time, I think you're almost ready to begin the training." _Naruto smiled at that. He had been working on this for well over half a day.

Apparently, the **Heavenly Techniques**, as Naruto had dubbed them, were going to be a little more complicated to learn, despite the fact that Runa said she could teach them to him in just a few days. She had yet to inform Naruto anything about the techniques, but apparently the first step was tapping into the…Kyuubi's chakra. Not enough to enter, what Runa called, the Jinchuuriki form, but just a small pulse of chakra. Unfortunately, using _it's_ chakra, in any way, had the regrettable side effect of lighting Naruto up like a beacon to anyone who could even remotely sense chakra. That was the point of the current training, so Naruto could learn to pull a small bit of the Kyuubi's chakra, without anyone sensing it. At least…anymore than if he were using his normal chakra.

"_Meditate for another hour and then train yourself for the rest of the day, and prepare yourself to meet your team tomorrow. We'll pick up your training in three days."_

Naruto pouted, "Can't we do it now?"

"_I had thought we had moved past __**you**__ questioning every single decision I make."_ The woman snapped.

"Umm, sorry Master."

"_Good."_

He didn't like it, but he wouldn't question his sensei in this matter again. Perhaps he could take some time and practice with his **Shadow Clone Technique**or the **Phoenix Technique**. Perhaps continue to experiment with the **Transformation Technique**, it seemed to work greatly on that elite tutor after all.

* * *

-x- the Academy, the next day -x-

The next day found Naruto sitting in the Academy, in his old classroom to be exact, waiting to receive his new team. He thought about the last day with a slight smile on his face.

If there was anything that he liked about being a shinobi, it was definitely the privilege of buying from _Shinobi-ONLY_ shops, something he couldn't do before even though he was an academy student. It was a right of passage reserved only for those who reached the rank of Genin.

At first he was kind of worried they'd end up hating him just like any of the other stores he regular attended, but that hadn't been the case at all. He was able to purchase decent sets of kunai and shurikan from the shops he had gone to. Not only were they much better than the crap that he normally bought from most of the other stores that had allowed him the _privilege_ to shop in their stores, but they were also much less expensive. The best part was when he found that one of the shops sold food, rations to be exact, and apparently instant ramen was among the foods that most ninjas considered 'rations'. So while he was at the shop he had decided to stock up…again at a much cheaper price than he was allowed to before hand.

Though the shop owners seemed to give him odd looks, neither hateful nor the opposite, it was definitely better than dealing with some of the crap he had to deal with before hand. He was definitely looking forward checking out a certain weapon shop he spotted on the way home, the four bags he was carrying at the time being the only thing that had stopped him that moment.

"What are you doing here Naruto?", broken from his trance, Naruto lazily turned his head to look at Kiba Inuzuka. Silently, he wondered why the boy didn't have his dog, Akamaru, with him, but chose to ignore it when Kiba continued his rant. "This class was only for people who passed the exam, Naruto."

Lazily, Naruto tapped his forehead protector, "Oh, so I guess I'm just wearing a Hitai-ate for the hell of it?"

Kiba looked at Naruto suspiciously before shrugging and leaving to go sit somewhere else. The rest of the time he spent waiting for Iruka came and went mildly uneventfully. Sakura Haruno, his crush, came barreling into the classroom, with Ino Yamanaka right next to her. Strange as it sounded, he could have sworn he heard Runa's voice mutter the words, _"Pink Cow Bitch."_ But that couldn't be right; Runa said she wouldn't be in contact with for the next few days. There was a slight altercation when the two girls' tried to get the last seat in front of _Sasuke-kun_, which resulted in him being mowed over. He decided to forget everything, considering what today was. He was going to finally be put on a Genin team; nothing could possibly kill his buzz.

"Team Seven will be: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki-"

Naruto's head hit the table in front of him, seems he spoke to soon.

"-and Sakura Haruno."

As soon as his hearing came back, a side effect to Sakura's shrill shriek, he thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He got to be on a team with Sakura after all…

"_Pink Cow Bitch."_

Naruto blinked at that. 'Master? You there?' he thought curiously. Of course, since he never learned to project his thoughts, it was unlikely that she would have heard him, even if she were listening. In the end, he didn't hear her, or anything that sounded like her, for the rest of the day.

* * *

-x- Naruto's Apartment -x-

After the rather…interesting meeting with his team and their new sensei, a man named Kakashi Hatake, he had decided the best thing he could do was train for a few hours. He didn't know what to expect from this _survival exam_, so he decided a small work out would be the most prudent way to go.

Hours of training later, the blonde finally walked into his apartment. He was too afraid to try and summon the pulse of chakra outside of that circle Runa had made for him. He would have gone back to it, but Runa had all but demanded that he destroy it after his training lesson that day, less someone stumble upon it. Apparently it was illegal for Shinobi, who used Sealing Techniques, to just leave their seals lying around in a public training ground. It was a bylaw that the boy could easily understand after reading the book on Sealing Runa left him. Unfortunately that left him without a good spot to train for his future technique. One mistake and he could potentially end up with half the village's shinobi force on his ass in mere moments.

The Jinchuuriki sighed as he walked to his kitchen. He paused immediately when he saw a book on his kitchen table, with Runa's _signature_ yellow sticky note on top of it. Excited, he quickly walked over to it, hoping Runa had left him another cool book to help his training. He grabbed the note and read it.

"_Naruto, a shinobi's greatest weapon is deception. Hide your strength and hide your weaknesses. Make your opponent believe your greatest strength is in fact your greatest weakness, and then crush them. Don't be afraid to anger or humiliate your opponent. An enraged enemy at times may harness their rage into their strength, but is generally much easier to deceive and, by extension, defeat. Cover your weaknesses so your opponents can't use them against you, whilst trying to find your opponent's weakness so you can use it against them. This book is both your sensei's greatest weakness and his greatest strength, despite the fact that he openly flaunts it. Surely you can find a way to use it against him."_

Naruto blinked, as he looked at the book. "Icha Icha Paradise?" The blonde shrugged and opened the book. Runa's note suggested that he might have to fight his new sensei during his little 'Survival Exam', and he figured it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.

* * *

-x- later -x-

In the end, Naruto managed to come up with a strategy exactly five hours later. Four hours, fifty-three minutes, and thirty-two seconds of that was spent reading the book from cover to cover. Normally he was a slow reader, and it would have taken him a lot longer to read a three hundred-page book…but the simple dialogue, many pictures, and large writing managed to speed things up for him considerably.

Either way, six minutes and twenty-eight seconds later his strategy was completely set.

* * *

-x- The next morning -x-

Naruto managed to arrive at the meeting spot exactly three minutes before eight o'clock. Noticing that Sakura was already there, he smiled at her and waved. "Hey Sakura-chan!"

The pinkette scowled at the blonde and then proceeded to ignore him. A moment later, Sakura looked up and smiled in Naruto's direction before getting up and running towards him.

Getting the wrong idea, the blonde smiled at her, before she shoved past him and continued running. The blonde turned around and scowled as he saw Sakura run towards Sasuke who had just appeared. "Sasuke-kun, you're here! After our exam, you want to go on a date?"

"No", was his only reply as he walked right passed the girl.

"I'll go on a date with you Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out.

Sakura turned on her heal and glared at the blonde, "Shut up Naruto-baka!"

The blonde pouted as he watched Sakura go and sit down, a little too close to Sasuke. He just turned and sat down against a tree, hopefully his sensei would be there soon.

Unfortunately, it would be another three hours before Kakashi deemed to show himself to his prospective Genin. This time he appeared in a puff of smoke. "Yo!"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Both Naruto and Sakura yelled at the silver-haired Jounin.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I got lost on the road of life."

"LIAR!" Though, once again, only Naruto and Sakura yelled at the man, it was obvious that Sasuke had similar feelings.

"So, anyway…" Kakashi began as he walked to three wooden posts in the center of the clearing. He quickly placed two lunch boxes on the ground and a timer on one of the posts. "…here is your test." He pulled out two bells. "I have two bells here. Your objective is to take these bells from me. Those of you who don't get a bell will automatically be sent back to the academy."

Sakura's hand immediately shot up. Kakashi gave her a small nod, though he silently wondered how long until she realized she wasn't in school anymore. "But sensei, there are only two bells."

The Jounin's lone eye went up into a small upside down smile, "I suppose that means one of you will go back to the academy." At that all three Genin looked at him in shock. "Oh, and feel free to use any weapons or Ninjutsu you want on me, anything goes. Come at me with the intent to kill, or I promise you won't get anywhere."

Sakura's hand shot up again; once again Kakashi gave her a slight nod. "But if we come at you like that, we could really hurt you", she pleaded with him.

If Kakashi didn't want to keep a stoic air around him, he probably would have laughed in her face. Fortunately, Sakura wasn't the first person to ask him that question. It seemed like there was always one idiot, each year, who thought Genin, fresh out of the academy, could hurt an experienced Jounin. "I can handle myself fine, don't worry."

Sasuke shot out of the ground, running straight towards Kakashi, kunai in hand. Kakashi easily smacked the boy's hand away, and delivered an open-palmed thrust straight to the boy's chest, sending the Uchiha straight back to where he was originally sitting **(1)**. "That's the spirit Sasuke_-kun_, but wait until I start the timer." He obviously put a sarcastic tone on the _kun_. "Oh! And if you can't get any of the bells, I'm going to tie you to one of those posts and eat my lunch in front of you." All three of the Genins' stomachs growled, reminding them that they were told not to eat breakfast this morning. "Now, you have one hour." Kakashi said as he started the timer.

When he did all three of the Genin, jumped into the trees, hiding themselves. Kakashi was actually impressed. He couldn't see any of them. With his enhanced hearing he was able to detect their breathing, however faint it was. Sakura was easy enough to distinguish from the three breaths. When he concentrated chakra to his nose, to enhance his sense of smell, he could clearly smell both a scented shampoo and perfume, both coming from the same area. Either it was Sakura, or one of the boys' had an interesting story to tell. Either way, the perfume and that brand of shampoo was the first to go IF the he decided to pass the girl. It was already decided that the two boys' HAD to pass this exam, but that sure as well didn't mean he wouldn't drop the girl if she proved too much of a liability. Kakashi sighed as he grabbed his little orange book and began reading it.

It was almost forty minutes into the exam before someone finally made their move. Kakashi easily sidestepped five thrown shurikan. Calculating their trajectory, Kakashi followed their path towards one of the trees. Concentrating chakra to his ears, he could hear someone moving quickly through the trees. A hint of blue revealed it to be the Uchiha **(2)**.

With twenty-one minutes left in the exam, he decided to follow Sasuke to beat a few lessons into the boy. He was immediately stopped when Naruto jumped into the clearing, standing in the open.

"So one of you finally decided to show yourselves. Compared to the others though…you're a little bit weird." He didn't care for the orange jumpsuit. Then again, he didn't think any of his Genin were dressed properly. Sakura wore a red dress, despite the fact that most ninja dresses, Sakura's included, were just impractical. In truth they were made for the sole purpose of making money off of little girls that wanted to _play_ ninja, little girls' parents to be exact. Sadly, it worked quite often. It wasn't only the dress though; the color simply didn't work for stealth missions. Sasuke was the only one with decent colored clothing. The dark blue was decent in most environments, but the white shorts definitely needed to go.

"Listen up right now sensei, my name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be the greatest Hokage ever!"

Kakashi nodded, ignoring the blonde, however admirable his dream may be. "Yea I think you mentioned that before", he said before burying his nose in his book.

Naruto scowled, "Why are you reading that?"

"To see what happens next."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "I mean, we're suppose to be fighting."

"Don't worry. You're probably both weak and slow…I doubt you could actually hurt me." Kakashi made a poor assumption based on Naruto's reported grades. To bad Kakashi didn't remember that old saying, 'when you assume, be prepared to be made an ass.'

Naruto smirked, as he put his hands into a cross. "You better watch, I'm going to show you my ultimate Ninjutsu/Taijutsu combo."

Despite himself, the comment got Kakashi interested, though he didn't show it outwardly.

"**Naruto Style: Icha Icha Harem!"**

Kakashi's headshot up, his visible eyebrow raised, "Naruto Style-what?" Suddenly, the clearing was filled with Narutos, before they all disappeared in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, it revealed Kakashi surrounded by women. Naked women. Naked women that he remembered, with all the detail provided to him by his Sharingan, as girls in his favorite book series. His visible eye widened as he stared at the girl closest to him, "That's…Moka, the vampire princess." He looked a little lower, "The details are perfect…right down to the tattoo of the rosario she has just above her…"

His thoughts were stopped when 'Moka' suddenly attacked him; luckily for him his instincts kicked in allowing him to easily sidestep her punch. He was about to retaliate when he caught something in the corner of his eye. 'Oh my god, that's the Witch C.C. and Princess Euphemia. They're reenacting the scene where C.C. convinces Euphemia to explore her sexuality.' The spot where Kakashi's mask hid his nose suddenly turned red. Once again, his six-sense kicked in and he managed to avoid another punch from behind. He turned in time to see… 'That's Rukia Kuchiki!'

Suddenly, Rukia was flanked by both Moka and another girl… Kakashi's eyes widened, 'Erza Scarlet?' This was like a dream come true. 'If they weren't all trying to beat him up…and if they weren't all really guys…OH is that another lesbian scene.' Kakashi said as he turned his head to the left. Once again, his six-sense, the one who always told him when danger was coming, was the only thing that kept him from getting knocked out. Strangely, this time it was saying, _"Wake up you damn pervert your about to get your ass kicked."_ That would be the day. Gai would never let him live this day down if he were to lose to a freaking Genin, however **awesome** a strategy he may be using.

He managed to avoid a punch from Erza, blocked another punch from Rukia. Unfortunately, he spent a little too much time _admiring_ the rosario tattoo, which allowed Moka to kick him in the side. 'Oh hell no! I can't believe I'm falling for this little punks plan. How dare he use my precious against me', Kakashi seethed. 'I'm gonna punch his lights out…hey is that Rei and Asuka?'

* * *

-x- With Sasuke –x-

Sasuke Uchiha was aroused, impressed, and frustrated all at the same time. The arousal came from obvious reasons, proving that despite what some people (cough-Kiba-cough) said, he was in fact heterosexual. He was impressed that the _dobe_ managed to pick up such an effective, if perverted, strategy. Unfortunately, he was frustrated that the blonde kept failing to retrieve one of the bells. There were so many openings in Kakashi's guard that he failed to cover, yet the blonde kept attacking head on, or from obvious angles, that the strategy was rendered nearly meaningless. Nearly.

Sasuke prepared to jump down. _He_ could definitely make use of Naruto's strategy. 'I'll grab both bells and then give Naruto the other one' he rationalized. But time was running out and this was definitely too good a chance to pass up.

* * *

-x- With Sakura –x-

Sakura growled at the scene before her. 'How dare that baka…' She was definitely going to smack that blonde baka for this perverted garbage!

* * *

-x- in the clearing –x-

'Oh NO, Nyuu! I can't believe I dispelled Nyuu.'

"**Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique!" ** Kakashi glanced to the right in time to see a large fireball coming straight at him. The moment he felt the heat on his face, he smiled, 'Maybe they're getting it after all.' And then Kakashi was engulfed in the flame. Luckily for Naruto, Sasuke had the forethought and self-control to avoid hitting the blonde, and his clones, with the flame.

That didn't stop Naruto from scowling at the Uchiha though. One of the women, a pig-tailed blonde, yelled, "Sasuke what the hell are you doing? You just fried our sensei!"

"He's still alive you idiot, and you just gave yourself away!" the Uchiha seethed.

Unfortunately, for Sasuke, Naruto wasn't Kakashi's target. The Jounin appeared behind the Uchiha, crouched down, his hands in a tiger seal.

"Sasuke-kun! Watch out, he's going to destroy you!"

The Uchiha moved to turn but it was to late. "**Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: Thousand Years of Death!**"

And, unfortunately, things got uncomfortable after that.

* * *

-x- Wave Country –x-

While Naruto was finishing his meditations the day before, and going through his team meetings today, Kreia had decided to return home for a day or two. The house was nice; large enough to comfortably fit seven or eight adults, which practically made it a mansion for herself and her houseguest. It was built in a remote region of Wave Country, though unfortunately not remote enough apparently. Some goons, which were currently illegally taxing the people of Wave Country, had stumbled upon her house and decided, since she was _technically_ living in _their_ Country, that she was subject to the same taxes as all the other citizens. Kreia rolled her eyes at that thought. It was ridiculously easy to get rid of those two, if not annoying. However, she had silently promised to kill the little bastard whom was leading those mongrels, for the annoyance of the whole situation.

"Master."

Kreia turned her eyes towards the green-haired teenager standing at the doorway to Kreia's private meditation room.

"I think the 'tax-collectors' are back", there was an obvious amount of sarcasm in her voice when she said _tax-collectors_.

Kreia nodded towards her. "Bring them before me", she ordered. The girl nodded her head and left. When she was alone, Kreia's emotionless face twisted into an annoyed scowl. That little bastard hadn't realized it yet, but his life expectancy had just dropped significantly.

* * *

-x- With team 7-x-

Unfortunately, things had gotten significantly worse for the Jounin. The _girls_ had begun attacking Kakashi with greater ferocity than before and even seemed to be doing it with greater strategy than Kakashi would give a new Genin credit for; he was impressed to say the least. Even more unfortunate, was the fact that Sasuke was back in the fight and, for some _odd_ reason, seemed to take Kakashi's technique personally.

It was a combination of Sasuke weaving in and out of Naruto's clones, while the clones provided the Uchiha both back up and cover. It was a potent strategy, one that seemed premeditative, but that boys could only had thought up on the fly. Unfortunately, every time Kakashi, begrudgingly, took out a clone, two more took its place. He had to wonder how much chakra the kid had; the fight was starting to get difficult. Really, the fact that naked women surrounded him from his famous novel series had absolutely nothing to do with it…really.

Sasuke had almost gotten the bell more than once already, Kakashi had to stop holding back those few instances to prevent his defeat. The Jounin grinned as he got a clear look at the timer, 'three…two…one!' The sound of the timer going off filled the clearing, causing both Sasuke and the Narutos to stop what they were doing. Kakashi turned towards the girl he believed was the real Naruto. "Cancel your technique, this exam was over." With a pout, Naruto transformed back to his real form and dispelled the clones. Though they didn't get the exact point of the exam, it was obvious that both Sasuke and Naruto were on the right track. Now he just needed to get the correct lesson through the three kids' heads, especially Sakura, who had yet to do a single thing throughout the exam. And if Kakashi knew women as well as he thought he did…then Sakura should come bursting out of the woods to…

"NARUTO! YOU IDIOT!" Sakura jumped into the clearing and slammed the stunned boy in the face with her fist, sending him back several feet. Before she could do anything else, Kakashi quickly grabbed her hand and put her in a painful arm lock.

* * *

-x- later –x-

Five minutes later found the team leaning against the wooden posts, Sakura was tied to the post. Kakashi was a few feet away staring at the Stone of Heroes.

"I'm going to give you three one last chance." He said as he looked towards the team. "Sasuke and Naruto, feel free to eat the lunch I provided for you." He then glared at Sakura. "But Sakura doesn't get any, and don't either of you dare feed her. It's her punishment for, not only doing nothing during the exam, but for attacking a fellow teammate, for his…choice strategy." Sakura looked down, her face the perfect picture of shame and regret.

Naruto looked at little upset at this, "But-"

"But nothing! I make the rules, remember that." With that last comment, Kakashi disappeared form the clearing.

Both Naruto and Sasuke grabbed their bentos, but before they could even eat a bite, they heard Sakura's stomach rumble. Unfortunately, this act caused the girl to just curl into herself much more than she had been before.

"Have some Sakura."

Sakura slowly looked up to see Naruto offering her his lunch box. She looked at him in shocked before she slowly nodded. "No Naruto. You heard Kakashi-sensei, you'll fail if you give me any. Ummm…besides, I'm on a diet."

"We don't have the luxury for your damn diet, we need you at one hundred percent." Sasuke began, as he offered her some of his lunch box as well. "Kakashi isn't around, so if we feed you some food quickly, he'll never know."

Naruto scowled at the other boy before looking towards Sakura. "Eat some, come on."

Sakura had tears in her eyes at the display, "Sasuke-kun…"

"YOU!" All three were suddenly rocked back when they felt an explosion next to in front of him. Kakashi suddenly appeared looking to all the world as if he were about to unleash the hounds of hell on his Genin. "PASS!"

"huh!"

**

* * *

A/N:**

**1: I'm pretty sure it was Naruto who did this in canon, but considering that he had a strategy cooked up, I think it's believable that he would have waited. It also seemed like something Sasuke would do, so he did it in my story instead.**

**2: Once again, Naruto made the first move in canon. In this fic, though it wasn't stated, both Sasuke and Naruto were waiting for someone else to make the first move. This time, Sasuke made the first move.**

**Jutsu List:**

**-Name**: Phoenix Technique-

**Rank**: B

**Users**: Naruto, Most ANBU

**Info**: The precursor to the **Mythical Palm Technique** and, by extension, all modern medical techniques. Compared to it's successor, this jutsu is not only less efficient, but can cause wounds, normally bones, to heal improperly. Normally used by those lacking the chakra control to use the more sophisticated techniques. Usually, an ANBU will use this technique to stabilize the patient and wait for a **true** medic to attend to the patient.

**-Name: **Heavenly Subjugation (of the Omnipresent God)-

**Rank: **Not Applicable

**Users: **Naruto (future user), Kreia (presumed), Pein (Deva-path)

**Info:** Uses the force of Gravity to repel an opponent. Not much else is known about the technique, though through the laziness of a certain author, the name will be shortened to Heavenly Subjugation.

**-Name: **Heavenly Attraction (of All of Creation)-

**Rank: **Not Applicable

**Users:** Naruto (future user), Kreia (presumed), Pein (Deva-path)

**Info: **Uses the force of Gravity to attract an opponent. Not much else is known about the technique, though through the laziness of a certain author, the name will be shortened to Heavenly Subjugation.

**A/N: That's all for now. Please Review.**


	3. Student of Gravity

**Disclaimor: I don't own Naruto, Starwars (Kreia), or World of Warcraft (Pandaren).**

**Too be honest, I'm not fond of this chapter (not the chapter itself, but mostly the whole, coming up on Wave arc). I've gotten so sick of the Wave arc (so sad). Anyway, I do plan to change a few things. I should be more inspired to write about the next chapter.**

**Oh and keep in mind I probably won't be able to update for about a week. Finals are coming up (GAG).**

**Anyway, please enjoy. Oh and to avoid confusion, I'm going to list how I'm doing conversations.**

"Regular Speaking"

'Regular Thinking'

**"Bijuu, Giant Summon, or Jinchuuriki using demonic chakra, speaking"**

**"Also used for naming Jutsu"  
**

**'Biju, Giant Summon or Jinchuuriki using demonic chakra, thinking'**

_"Kreia/Runa speaking telepathically."_

_'Inner Sakura, or other inner selves, speaking.'_

**Oh, and as most of you have no doubt noticed, I sometimes Bold, Italicize, Underline, or CAPS words I'm emphasizing. This will usually be a single word though, to avoid some confusion.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Student of Gravity**

"Good, it looks like you're finally getting the hang of it."

"I am?" Naruto blinked at her proclamation. He was, once again, in a training field somewhere in the forest near Konohagakure. It always seemed to him that Runa picked these spots at random, but he, smartly, chose not to comment on that. "But nothing happened", he noted with annoyed disapproval.

"Oh but it did, you simply didn't noticed the results of all your hard work. They were small, but you did, in fact, move a few objects with the technique."

The boy frowned, 'It must have been really small', the boy mentally complained. "It wasn't anything big though."

"All things start somewhere, you'll have to constantly work with it to get stronger, just like any other muscle."

The technique was both very complicated and very simple to learn, mostly because Runa had been all but holding his hand while he was learning it. It was a three-step process to re-create the technique. The first step, which was more of a requirement than an actual step, was to have special-type of chakra to act as a catalyst; in his case, the chakra of the Kyuubi would more than suffice. The second step was to create a pulse around him, using that chakra, and to hold it there.

The second step was actually the most complicated step and was still something he didn't quite understand. While Runa was walking him through the steps, he got the feeling that she was actually guiding him to do things that she wasn't actually taking the time to explain. After all, she said that this technique allows him to manipulate gravity…there had to be more to it than just letting out a little of the Demon's chakra. That's what he believed at least, though he honestly didn't know much about the nature of the Kyuubi's chakra, so he accepted that he could very well be wrong. He had been afraid his lack of understanding was what kept him from actually being able to use the technique, but apparently his worries were unfounded.

The final step was to manipulate his own chakra, while still holding on to the pulse, and use it to direct and release the energies that were around him. There seemed to be one side effect though. Apparently, if done correctly, it would leave him unable to manipulate those same energies for a short time…though that apparently depended more on his chakra control than anything else.

"It will still take you some time to build your abilities to a point that they can become useful in an actual battle."

The blonde frowned again. Not that he minded the actual training; it's just that he was hoping he would have something more…impressive to start out with. He had also been hoping to start with something he could actually **see**.

"However, there is another subject that we need to discuss. Sealing Techniques, how far have you gotten?"

"I finished the book you gave me", he replied. "I haven't actually written anything yet." Though it was on his to do list, the fact that he was so restricted when it came to studying the Sealing Techniques kept him from actually writing any actual seals. Naruto scowled, he finally understood why Runa had told him not to let anyone see him reading up on the art. In the end, after reading the book, he decided to wait for further instructions before going any further in his studying.

"Good start. Now, I want you to recreate the Sealing Technique used to seal items into paper. In the final chapter of the book I gave you, you'll find a reference you may use which lists the details on this technique. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded, "Yes Master, but I have a question. What do I do with the book on acupressure?"

"I'm guessing you mean what should you do with the **information** in the book. Remember to choose your words better Naruto." Naruto looked sheepish at that. Ever since she started working with him, Runa had been correcting a number of his mannerisms…his speech being high on the list. She always said that the **future Hokage** needed to act in a more refine manner. "I gave you that book so you can add the information to both your fighting style and your medical knowledge. To know what points you should target, what points you should ignore. It's a lot to learn, and it will take you some time yet to memorize all the information in that Manual. However, what you do with that knowledge is your choice." She finished her explanation. "Now, is that all?"

"Yes master", with that, Runa cut off the connection. After a few moments, Naruto continued his training.

* * *

-x- Later that day –x-

Naruto finally decided to check out that Weapon shop he saw on the way home a few nights ago. He entered it, and his eyes widened. For the entire world to see, he looked like a boy who had just woken up Christmas Morning. They all looked so…pretty…and deadly.

"What the hell are **you** doing here?" an angry voice came from the left side of the store.

Naruto turned towards a middle-aged woman over in the corner, slight fear in his eyes. The angry woman was behind the register, glaring daggers straight at Naruto.

"Get out of here right now!" Naruto looked down and began to turn on his heel to leave, but stopped when he heard another voice.

"Now that's not very polite Ursa…what would my brother think?" a gentle and tired sounding voice responded off to the other side of the shop.

Naruto once again turned towards the voice, this time seeing an overweight, old man wearing a red robe. He was bald, with a long gray beard. Since he hadn't seen the man before, the boy assumed that he had just come from the door he was standing in front of.

"Mako…" she seethed, "…you KNOW what he is, don't you!"

"Perhaps a better conversation to have in back, don't you think?"

Still seething, she began walking towards the back room. It appeared the old man, identified as Mako, would follow, but then she muttered an angry, "Forget it, I'm going back to the Jasmine Dragon."

With that, she walked out the front door, right pass Naruto.

Mako sighed, as he rubbed his baldhead and then turned towards Naruto, "The Jasmine Dragon is a teashop that's in my family." He explained before moving towards the register. He seemed to check something on the machine before turning back towards the boy, giving off a kind smile. "So, what can I help you with?"

"Perhaps I should go…" Naruto began, looking down.

"Nonsense, you just got here." He said, walking towards the boy, "Was there something you came to get?"

Naruto, still not meeting his eyes, just looked down and said, "I was honestly just browsing."

"Then stay and browse, it would do my shop no honor if you ran out of here with _that_ look on your face. Besides, you just missed the last rush I've been expecting for the day, so you'll have the store to yourself."

Naruto grinned nervously at that. "Well…"

"Would I be to presumptuous to say, you were thinking of taking up a weapon?"

"Thinking about it, though I wouldn't know where to begin." It was true. Since the Hokage covered, or had someone else cover, paying his rent and utilities, the boy only had to spend his money on food and equipment. After buying all the kunai he needed and enough instant ramen to last him a few weeks, he still had a little bit of money saved up. His eyes glanced over a pair of dao swords, a chain-sickle, and even a beautifully crafted glaive. Though, seeing the prices around the shop, he was beginning to regret his original line of thought. 'No way I'll be able to afford anything here…not by a long shot", he thought glumly. 'Maybe after a few missions.'

"May I make a suggestion?"

Naruto turned his head towards Mako.

"You're not here because your sensei suggested you grab a weapon, you're here because you saw my shop and thought some of these looked very 'awesome', is that correct?"

At that, Naruto chuckled nervously. The old man had him pegged. "Was I that obvious?"

Mako shook his head, "No, it's just the state of mind of most children your age…well not _your_ age specifically. More exact, most children who had just graduated the Academy, you're actually the third one I met this last week. Now, since most everything I have here is expensive, I suggest you hold off on any purchases for now. Most ninja, the smart ones, decide to take up a weapon after they discover a little about themselves. Mostly, they use it to reinforce an area they feel they're weak in. I suggest you do the same."

Naruto nodded. "I guess that makes sense." He looked at the man curiously. "But…is there anything that would be useful in hitting someone's pressure points."

"Senbon needles are what most people use. There are some cases of people using blunted Johyos (rope dart), but I don't think that's very effective. Your best bet is to go with Senbon."

Naruto smiled, "I'd like to buy some of those then."

"I'm sorry, but I don't actually sell those." Naruto looked down at that. "I let other merchant deal with those. They have ways of making things like kunai, shurikan, and senbon much more efficiently and cheaply. While I choose art over efficiency. In the case of throwing weapons, like senbon, cheap and efficiently made weapons are really all you need, not artfully crafted. You want a sword that's not only powerful, but also beautiful, you come to me. You want any type of small throwing weapon, best to go to one of the general stores."

Naruto nodded, understanding what the old man was saying. It made sense after all. In the case of kunai and such, all you really needed was something with a sharp edge.

"You may want to hurry if you plan to buy some tonight, I believe most of the general stores close in another ten minutes."

Naruto's eyes widened as he made for the door, yelling out a, "Thanks mister."

Quickly moving to the door, the old man called out back, "And make sure you buy the cheap wooden ones to practice with." He gave a sigh as he went back into his shop. "Kids…" he said with a smile.

He heard the bell on the door sound and turned to greet his next customer. "Ah, mister Hayate, I have your sword right here."

* * *

-x- Two months later –x-

Sarutobi wasn't having a very nice day, quite the opposite actually. In the end though, the worse part of his day had to do with the message Jiraiya had sent him.

Two months ago, right after he discovered that Kreia was manipulating Naruto, he had sent his student a clear message. _"Return home."_ His message was quick and precise. Whenever there was an emergency, that was topic sensitive, he would always send Jiraiya a message in this fashion, and the man would generally come running back to Konoha as quick as possible. Though, normally he'd be back in Konoha in under a month. A small toad, which Hiruzen used to communicate with the man, pointed out that the man was _still _alive, so he didn't need to worry about that. He began thinking about sending another message to the man, a much more **urgent **sounding message, but stopped himself each time.

He finally got his reply, like he normally did from his last_ loyal_ student. Unfortunately, his student's reply left much to be desired this time around. _"Working on something, be out of touch for a couple months, I'll send you a new copy of my book later."_ He had a crisis going on in Konoha, and Jiraiya was apparently investigating something that he deemed important enough to blow off an emergency summons.

'He better have something important', Hiruzen thought bitterly. Without Jiraiya he'd have to start checking other sources and perhaps have someone else deal with his Kreia-situation. 'Perhaps I should include Kakashi in this little problem', the old man thought with a sigh. He was really getting too old for this. Between dealing with Kreia and Danzou, he didn't know why he continued dealing with this bullshit; he was obviously getting far too old for it.

In the end, he decided to wait a little longer. However, if Jiraiya didn't return soon, he would have to start to move…either against Naruto or, preferably, against Kreia herself.

* * *

-x- A month later –x-

Things weren't turning out like Kakashi thought they would. He had decided a long time ago to tutor his new Genin in team building exercises, and allow them to grow on their own, in their own way. It's exactly how his team had functioned when he was a Genin, with their sensei throwing them a few jutsu whenever they seemed ready for them.

Overall, his strategy consisted of allowing them to come up with their own style. Unfortunately, he failed to account for a few things during his plans…the most important being the difference between the Academy today, and the Academy twenty years ago.

Sakura was obviously the best example, with his former teammate, Rin, being a perfect tool for comparison. Sakura graduated, at age twelve, the top Kunoichi of her class. Rin graduated, at age nine, somewhere near the center of their class. Rin was considered average, while Sakura was considered the best kunoichi, of their respected years.

By both of their respected graduations, Rin would not only had made Sakura look physically inept, but also made her look like a complete retard – in terms of knowledge a Kunoichi SHOULD know. Perhaps it was the twenty odd years that kept Kakashi from realizing that simple fact, but when he started comparing the two, he began to realize that his plan wouldn't work. Unfortunately, that realization didn't actually make it through his head until after a series of unpleasant conversations with Sasuke.

That was the second thing Kakashi failed to account for at the time, how annoying his Genin team could be. Sasuke was annoyed that Naruto had not only the **Shadow Clone Technique**, but also the **Phoenix Technique**, two techniques not taught within the Academy. Kakashi pointed out that Sasuke already knew two Ninjutsu not taught within the Academy as well, and probably had access to at least a couple more.

Sasuke then pointed out that the techniques he had access to were from his clan. The Uchiha Clan always had a few fire techniques written down in case one of their own wanted to begin training, yet they didn't have access to someone who could be their teacher. He then went into a long tirade about how any technique Naruto had access to, would most likely be something that most people _should_ have access to. Kakashi was surprised that Sasuke managed to go on for nearly two minutes without mentioning that Naruto was an orphan, though it was obvious that that was what the boy was suggesting. It was probably survival instinct kicking in, because of the small amount of **Killer Intent (KI) **Kakashi was unleashing. He honestly would have smacked the boy if he had come right out and said it. There were just some things you didn't say to or about your own teammates, Kakashi thought.

After Sasuke's rant, Kakashi calmly made him understand that the **Shadow Clone** **Technique** came from a Forbidden Jutsu scroll that Naruto accidentally gained access to. He then mentioned that he didn't know where Naruto learned the **Phoenix Technique**, but mentioned that it was an obsolete healing technique that most people learned, not because it was an emergency healing technique – which it was – but because they didn't have the chakra control necessary to learn the more sophisticated techniques.

Sasuke then did a one eighty and asked Kakashi to teach him a defensive ninjutsu, something that the few Uchiha Clan scrolls in his possession failed to grant him. He stated in case of emergencies, he didn't have anything in his arsenal to give him any protection. He also mentioned that without a possible healing technique, he wouldn't be able to heal himself in case he did get hurt. Kakashi was surprised. Part of him understood that the Uchiha _was_ in fact manipulating him, but in part he didn't care…the boy had a point.

Naruto had a medical ninjutsu to heal himself, and his allies, in case of an emergency, not to mention his (un)natural regeneration. The **Shadow Clone**, if used efficiently, which Naruto seemed to be learning to do, could also be used defensively in a number of ways. Sasuke didn't have any such ability, though neither did Sakura, but Sakura had much bigger problems that she didn't even need to worry about those types of techniques yet.

The Uchiha was fishing for a defensive jutsu or a medical jutsu. In the end, with an annoyed sigh, he decided to give the boy the former. But he sure as hell would make the boy work his ass off for it, for the annoyance of it all. He asked the Uchiha to shake his hand, secretly palming a piece of chakra sensitive paper, and asked him to concentrate chakra to his hand. Fire and Lightning were the Uchiha's elements - silently impressed that the boy had two natural affinities - so he decided to give the boy a Water Technique, without letting the boy know of his affinities. He rationalized that a certain Uchiha loved using Fire Techniques, and having a Water elemental defensive, would give the boy an edge. In truth he just knew the technique would take the boy a while to learn and wanted to make sure the boy bled and sweated…would do good to knock the boy's ego down a peg.

It didn't matter though; the Uchiha ate up Kakashi's rationalization and happily agreed. Ten minutes later, Sasuke Uchiha walked away with a scroll containing the technique **Water Release: Water Encampment Wall.** That was three weeks ago and he knew, despite his supposed genius, the boy was just starting to get somewhere with the B-ranked technique. It would still take the boy a while before he could use the technique in actual combat and that was only as long as there was a body of water nearby.

If he had given the boy a Fire technique, or even a Lightning technique, the Uchiha would have probably gotten it combat ready in about a week. It was simply a perk to working with one of your affinities. At least until the boy finally activated his blood limit…then it was open season for the Uchiha.

The next annoyance came in the form of Sakura Haruno. She asked the man for training tips, complaining that Sasuke-kun was becoming a lot stronger than her and even Naruto was _beginning_ to surpass her. He _almost_ pointed out that Naruto proved that he surpassed her the day of the Survival Exam, the exact day he surpassed her was still in question, but Kakashi remained silent. If the girl was finally ready to do some real training, then he rationalized that it would be best to wait and listen, and not take a shot at her self-esteem, however accurate the shot would be.

He quietly told the girl, for starters, that she should eat a lot more proteins and carbohydrates, and exercise a lot more.

She, in shock, uttered some crap about her diet and the fact that she already **jogged** thirty minutes every morning.

In, well hidden, annoyance Kakashi responded that both Sasuke and himself **ran** an hour every morning before moving on to more strenuous exercises. He also mentioned that Naruto did the same, though his running times seemed to vary anywhere between one to two hours; but once again, the boy always moved on to something different.

Sakura was shocked and kind of nervous. She asked Kakashi how she could be an effective ninja and still remain her girlish figured.

Kakashi snapped his book shut, he had of course been reading it during their entire talk, and looked her straight in the eye. His reply was, "Kunoichi always gain some muscle tone and are still considered beautiful, many times more so than normal women. They also gain scars and calluses on their bodies." He scowled when he saw Sakura cringed in disgust. "If you don't want to risk that, then I suggest you become a Seduction Specialist." At that Sakura's face turned pale. "It isn't the most glamorous job, but it does pay well…simply another one of those dark jobs, which NINJA do, that needs to be done. Though, I should warn you, most of the women I know, who specialize in seduction, don't usually stay in relationships very long." He then mentioned that if the girl didn't want to do that either, then she definitely picked the wrong profession and should get out while she could. There was simply no room for girls to stand around and look pretty in the ninja world. Plenty of room for girls to look pretty while kicking some horny guy's ass…but not to just stand around. With that, Kakashi turned and left. What started out as a conversation the man truly wanted to have with the girl quickly turned boring and pointless. Seemed like the girl wasn't ready to change.

Seems he was wrong…partially. The next day she came up to him and said she wanted to improve her combat skills, and asked where she should begin. Though he really didn't have faith in the girl, just in case she did prove him wrong, which he hoped she did, he decided to give her a scroll she could learn from. He explained that it was a Genjutsu she could learn until she _physically_ caught up to her teammate(s). She opened it and read, **"Heavenly Illusion: Raging Tiger, Striking Dragon: Swan flies over the waterfall in the Moonlight,"** she smiled as she read it and looked up to her sensei and asked, "Is it a powerful Genjutsu."

He just shook his head and said, "Nope, it's actually rather weak. The creator of the jutsu was a poet and put in a flashy name, most people just call it the **Heavenly Illusion: Drunken Haze**. It essentially makes the person behave like a drunk."

Sakura looked down at that, but before she could complain, Kakashi left her again.

After spying on the girl a few times, he knew after that she had been jogging a little longer than average. She had also been eating larger portions of whatever it was she normally ate. It still wasn't enough, not by a long shot, but she was at least trying to catch up.

The next problem came from Naruto, or more importantly, the little voice in his head. The problem WASN'T that Kakashi had a little voice in his head; for Kakashi had long since come to peace with all the voices after all. The problem was that it kept reminding him that he had given something to Sasuke and Sakura, yet hadn't given a damn thing to Naruto. It's exact word's were, _'My-Eternal-Self it is most unyouthful to teach two of the three members on your squad, whilst the third one has yet to receive any 'private' tutoring at all. You must remedy this at once and make sure your young student's power blossoms like the spring time of youth!'_

Kakashi of course rationalized that Naruto had yet to come to Kakashi for an actual lesson. During their few team exercises, between missions, Kakashi could tell that the boy was (im)patiently waiting for a lesson, but, unlike his teammates, had been the least vocal about it.

_'Ahhh…My Eternal-Self, your youthful student is just experiencing a moment of shyness. It is your duty, nay, PRIVILEGE to make sure your student's power comes in like the spring rain and SHINES like the Sun.'_

"You know what", Kakashi said with an annoyed sigh one day, "Fuck you, I'm not listening to you anymore." He then continued reading his book.

'_YOSH! My cool and hip Eternal-Self still defeats me.' _In the end, arguing with the voice was a horrible idea, people were starting to give him weird looks, and so he decided to relent. He thought about what Naruto could use for a moment. He obviously had plenty of Ninjutsu for now, while he didn't have anything "destructive", he believed he could hold off on giving the boy one of those. Genjutsu was a possibility, or perhaps he could give the boy a few tricks to help him defend against a Genjutsu. And then there was his Taijutsu, aside from the SS-rank combo that he showed off during the Survival Exam, his Taijutsu was atrocious. He'd go as far to say that his Taijutsu was as bad as Sakura's. Where Sakura had a basic style taught at the academy but next to little strength and speed; Naruto had no style, and great strength and average speed – for someone his rank at least. He finally decided to go with Taijutsu when he happened to remember something that he had copied some time ago. The next step was finding Naruto…and then he would track down and murder the real Gai; the voice, that specific voice that is, _had_ to be his fault somehow.

_'Yosh! Most unyouthful to attack your awesome Eternal Rival.'_

"Fuck you."

* * *

-x- With Naruto –x-

Naruto was crossing the bridge, the one his team normally met on, ready to begin his warm-up exercises. In a couple of hours, Runa said she'd contact him again to observe his progress with the Heavenly Techniques. Unfortunately, when Runa said it would take him a while to master, she wasn't kidding. It didn't help things move along that he also had very little time to practice.

Six days of the week were spent with his team. The majority of the time spent with them, when he wasn't waiting for Kakashi to show up, was spent doing those stupid D-rank missions. That lasted until well into the afternoon, at which point the man had them run team-building exercises…which in his personal opinion, was doing very little. What little time he spent outside of his team, which was usually the early mornings, was normally used for physical exercises. Something that Runa had always mentioned to him was to never neglect his physical training; no matter what technique you're trying to do. She also said to not neglect his mental training, but he didn't normally worried about that at home, when it was to dark for him to train safely.

Nighttime was normally spent on marksmanship and the study of acupressure. During a talk with Iruka, when he mentioned that he started using Senbon, the older man was kind enough to lend him an old darts board. Iruka said since they were only Senbon, he could use the board as a target and practice from his own apartment. He tried to take at least thirty minutes every morning and every night to practice with them…unfortunately causing more than one hole to appear in his wall. He was getting better though. He also continued learning where certain pressure points were, but he was unfortunately having problems remembering everything. He figured it was something he needed hands on knowledge on.

The study of Sealing went well, and after two months of constant studying he was finally able to seal items within a scroll, though it took him much more time that he would have liked to admit. According to the book the woman who first discovered Sealing techniques managed to invent this ability in just under three months. Naruto had a good book that he had been studying from for the last eight months and just managed to get the concept down. Oh well, he rationalized that the man probably spent more time on this than was available to himself.

Sundays, like today, were his favorite day of the week. It was the day he had away from his team. Not that he hated his team or anything like that…Kakashi was cool, despite the tardiness, and Sakura was awesome, despite the fact that she always ignored him in favor of Sasuke. In reality he enjoyed it mostly because he finally had daylight to privately practice his **Heavenly Techniques**. He really wanted to practice them away from his team, because he was really hoping to surprise them with them…especially Sakura. He didn't like practicing at night in a training field because it made it far too difficult for him to see, 'though that's really something I'll have to get used to, isn't it.' He couldn't practice it in his apartment, he'd be too afraid to add any power to the technique…and that was half the point of training it in the first place.

In the end, the best place to practice was today. He'd find a solitary training field, and dedicate a few hours to it.

He continued walking when a puff of smoke went off in front of him, startling the boy out of his small reverie.

"AAHHHH!" the blonde cried as he fell backwards, landing on his rear. When the smoke cleared, he looked up to the form of his grinning sensei, at least it look liked he was grinning, he really couldn't tell because of the mask, and growled, "Don't do that!"

"Sorry" though his tone and facial features –umm…the area around his right eye – suggested he was anything but. He lazily snapped his hand up, tossing something to the boy, who was just now standing up.

Naruto caught it with the ease his ninja training provided him and looked up at his sensei curiously. "What's this?"

"I noticed during our time together that your Taijutsu style looks somewhat like a drunk, overweight hooker, trying to fit into a dress that's five sizes too small for her…after doing a line of coke and meth"

Naruto blinked. "Ummm…what?"

"Your Taijutsu sucks."

"Oh…well, yea probably." The blonde shrugged. He couldn't quite remember the Taijutsu style taught at the Academy…it was all basically punching and kicking right?

"Well, that's what's in that scroll I gave you." Naruto looked at the scroll in his hand. "It's not really a Taijutsu style per-say…just some moves I happen to 'remember' seeing an enemy use on a mission, a few years back. I think he was trying to form a Taijutsu style over it…or perhaps it's just a martial art, can't tell really."

Naruto opened the scroll and began looking at the pictures; there were plenty of notes in there too.

"A real Taijutsu style takes months to learn and years to master, but like I said _that_ isn't really a Taijutsu style, so you'll probably get it down faster. The scroll will actually teach you a series of stances and moves, as well as showing different ways you _should_ be punching or kicking. In essence it belongs to what we in the business call a Berserker-style."

The blonde cocked an eyebrow, "I thought Berserkers were a bad thing? Iruka-sensei said so"

Kakashi nodded, secretly glad Naruto understood that concept. "Yea they are, using a Berserker style is bad, they're usually the first to die in an actual fight. But-" he began quickly, hoping Naruto wouldn't misconstrued his "gift" the wrong way. There were some talks that Naruto's initial training was sabotaged after all. "-_you_ specifically don't actually need to use this style, now do you?"

Naruto blinked in obvious confusion, Kakashi's words less than clear in his mind. "What?"

"Think about it." The man said as he turned to leave. Everyone needed to work for what they got, that was Kakashi's motto. Well…actually his motto was 'give me porn or give me death', but that didn't exactly fit for this specific conversation. "Oh…and I'm not sure if that style has a name…though I clearly remember the guy kept saying crap like, _"Taste my Ferocity. _And _Feel the power of my Ferocity. _So that's how I was referring to it for a while now."

"**Ferocity**?"

Kakashi nodded, before he disappeared in another small puff of smoke.

The blonde blinked, before rolling the scroll back up. He'd make sure to discuss this with Runa during their next conversation.

After a few minutes, he got to the training ground he normally used and began his workout. Since he didn't have a team meeting today, it meant he'd get to spend the day training **his** way.

After a few hours, the person he was waiting for finally arrived. _"Apprentice."_

Naruto grinned, "Master!"

"Are you ready to show me your progress with the Heavenly Techniques?"

"Yea…but…" Naruto stammered a bit when he thought about what Kakashi gave him. "My sensei gave me this, he said I should learn it." Naruto made a slight gesture towards the scroll in his hand, not one hundred percent sure if Runa had seen it…she had.

"Oh, so the Jounin finally takes on the role of teacher. What was it he gave you?"

Upon that question, Naruto began recounting everything Kakashi told him in regards to the scroll, which contained the **Ferocity style**. What Naruto really wanted was to get a Taijutsu style out of Runa. She had yet to teach him anything else for the last three months, obviously making good on her promise to NOT teach him anything until he could get the **Heavenly Techniques **combat ready. He had really wanted his Taijutsu style to come from _her_, not that he disrespected Kakashi –aside from the porn addiction and the chronic tardiness- but Runa was three for three on badass techniques and also threw in two impressive subjects.

"Open the scroll and let me see it."

Suppressing a shrug, for he knew Runa hated it when he showed anything that could be misconstrued as a sign of defiance towards her orders, he opened the scroll a little.

It only took her a few moments to reply_, "I think I understand. Yes, this __could__ be something very useful to you."_

"That's what he said, but I heard, and he agreed, that Berserkers were a bad thing. Aren't they?" Naruto asked. It was one of the lessons Iruka had drilled into his head. Let your anger control you, and you become nothing more than a Berserker, and Berserkers were the first to get killed.

"Of course Berserkers are bad, they are normally the first to get a kunai to the back, I would hope you would understand that subject."

Naruto was feeling the sudden urge to pull at his hair and yell to the winds, but he repressed it. "But if Berserkers suck, why am I learning this."

"_The role of this style is to go straight at your opponent and hit him in ways to cripple them before they can hurt you, or cripple them in ways to lessen the effect of their own blows against you. For obvious reasons, people, shinobi or not, wouldn't survive long using such style, which explains why the man the Jounin learned it from is dead. But, to quote the Jounin, 'you specifically don't actually need to use this style, now do you?'"_ She finished with more than a little amusement in her voice.

"I still don't get it."

"_You'll understand soon enough_._"_

Once again, Naruto felt like pulling at his hair, screaming towards the heavens.

"Now…I believe you have something to show me."

* * *

-x- The next day –x-

Silently, Naruto wondered if enjoying the sight of an animal suffering made him a bad person. He simply enjoyed the sight of seeing that thrice damned Tora getting hugged to death by his overly joyful owner.

As the woman left, with the crying cat, the members of Team 7 turned towards the Hokage, hoping for another mission. The old man held up a sheet of paper before saying, "Another successful mission. Now I'm guessing you probably want another? There's walking the Izunu Family Dogs. Getting groceries for Shinobi Gardens-"

"No!" Naruto replied quietly.

The Third Hokage, as well as the people working beside him, looked up from what they were reading to look at Naruto.

"Come on Gramps, can't you give us anything better than these stupid chores? Anyone can do these"

Iruka, who was also there, slammed his fist on the table and stood up, growling at the blonde, "Naruto! Have some respect! You're still a Genin, a green one at that, you're not ready for an actual mission yet!"

The Hokage, for his part, kept his poker face up.

Iruka turned towards the group and put his teacher aura up, "Since you've forgotten, let me educate you in how our Mission Ranking System works again Naruto. You see…"

As Iruka began a rather long tirade regarding the Leaf Mission Ranking System, Naruto turned towards Kakashi. "Hey sensei, why do you bother reading porn, wouldn't it be easier to just get a pornographic magazines."

After getting a savage hit at the back of the head from Sakura, Kakashi turned to his _misguided_ student and began explaining to him the wonders that was Icha Icha Paradise. For five minutes…

"HEY!" Iruka's voice snapped them out of a much more interesting lesson. "I'm talking here!"

"But I know that stuff already! But how do I prove I'm ready for a cool mission, if you won't give me a cool mission to prove myself with!" Naruto complained.

Before Iruka could snap again, Hiruzen decided to intervene, "Alright." All occupants turned towards the Hokage as he grabbed a piece of paper. He had a grandfatherly smile on his face. "If Kakashi approves-" he paused a moment to gage the man's reaction. Kakashi gave a small, nondescript nod, "-I don't see anything wrong with giving Team 7 an early C-rank."

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto celebrated. Even Sasuke seemed a lot happier for once.

The Hokage handed a piece of paper to a nearby Chunin and said, "Send him in."

The Chunin immediately raced towards the door and left the room. He came back after a few moments with an old man in tow. "Hello Hokage-sama, I'm Tazuna the bridge builder." He then turned towards team seven. "Don't tell me my guard are those kids. They'll probably get themselves killed out there, especially that short one, he looks like an idiot."

As they say, things deteriorated from there.

* * *

-x- Later –x-

The five people, the members of team 7 and the bridge builder, left Konoha roughly an hour later. They traveled in relative silence for roughly five hours at a snails pace, for ninja at least, thanks to Tazuna. Sasuke was covering the front, with Sakura less than a step behind him, despite the fact that she was supposed to be much closer to Tazuna. Though her insubordination bothered Kakashi, he chose to let it go until a later time. He accepted her as a student, and he'd be damn sure to make her a proper ninja, even if it killed **her**. The bridge builder was at the center, with Naruto correctly right behind the man. Kakashi was a few paces away from Naruto, taking the rear of the group.

He glanced to the side when he saw a puddle on the ground, but chose to ignore it and continued walking. He also ignored the chakra fluctuations he felt behind him; all ANBU were trained in the ability to feel these minute fluctuations. He ignored the footsteps behind him, 'These guys suck.' He practically ignored the duo when they wrapped a spiked chain around him, which really should have been a big tip-off towards the pair.

The four in front turned just in time to see Kakashi get rip to shreds by the chain. The act stunned the Genin as they saw the pieces of their sensei fall to the ground in a gory mess.

The demon brothers chuckled darkly before launching themselves at the next target, Naruto. A pang of fear welled up inside the boy, but he managed to suppress it with the feeling of another emotion…rage. He grabbed three senbon needles, between each finger, and chucked them at the man to the right.

The man skillfully blocked the needles with his clawed hand, but ignorantly forgot that his claw was attached to his brother's claw by a chain. The act, though saved him from a few minor stabs, caused his brother to stumble over his feet, slowing the duo down considerably. Naruto made a cross seal as Sasuke ran right passed him.

The Uchiha threw a Shurikan into one of the links of the chain, stabbing it into a nearby tree, before using a kunai to lock it in place. Detaching the chain, the demon brothers separated and launched themselves around the boys and towards both Sakura and Tazuna, the former who was guarding the bridge builder.

"**Shadow Clone Technique!"** Naruto yelled as ten clones of him materialized around the field, blocking the demon brothers' respective paths. When both sides were about to engage the each other Kakashi appeared and easily took out one of the men. He turned his head to see seven Narutos and Sasuke gang up on the other one, finally going down when one of the Narutos kicked him in the side of the face.

'Not bad', he thought with amusement as he saw the two boys take out the other man. Judging by the one he had taken out, he probably could have taken the other out just as easily, but decided to let the two have their fun. That and he wanted to check his teams' progress. He quickly turned towards Tazuna, looking at the man with false kindness. "Those men stupidly tried to go around the greater threat", he took a moment to gesture at both Naruto and Sasuke, "to go after _you_ quickly. Care to explain that?" he asked with a smile.

* * *

-x- Two days later –x-

The next day was spent mostly in silence, traveling to Wave Country. After Tazuna explained why he lied on the mission ranking, Kakashi had left whether to continue with the mission up to his team. Both Naruto and Sasuke had readily agreed to continue with the mission. Sakura seemed reserved but in the end she decided to go along with the two boys, or probably Sasuke to be more specific. By the end of the first day, the group made it to the coast. They used a ferry to take them across to Wave Country.

On the second day though, they were attacked by another shinobi, this one named Zabuza, the Demon of Mist. Kakashi and Zabuza fought a vicious battle while Team 7 defended Tazuna. After a few skirmishes, Zabuza seemed to gain the upper hand when he trapped Kakashi in a sphere of water. Ignoring their sensei's orders, both Naruto and Sasuke moved to save the man, which they did, with more than a little ingenuity. Afterwards, Kakashi attacked Zabuza with all the viciousness he had been known for over the years, quickly defeating the man. However, out of nowhere, a Hunter-nin from Kirigakure appeared and seemingly finished Zabuza off. After the Kiri-nin took the missing-nin, Kakashi collapsed from chakra exhaustion.

The group collected Kakashi and made there way to Tazuna's house. They made it there early the next day.

This is the spot Naruto found himself in. Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, was tending to Kakashi while Sakura helped where she could. Sasuke on top of the roof, taking a lookout shift, while Naruto himself was inside waiting for his shift to start.

"Naruto."

The blonde's eyes widened.

"Speak freely, but softly. No one is close enough to hear you."

Naruto nodded. "What is it Master."

Silence was his only reply for several moments. He waited at the edge of his seat for close to a minute before she finally replied, "I want to meet with you, face to face."

* * *

-x- Hokage's Tower –x-

Hiruzen stared at his bitter rival, who looked at him with utter shock written all over his face.

"Ridiculous." He finally replied after close to three minutes of silence. "You know we can't move against her. Unless _you_ go after her directly, she'll neutralize anyone who goes after her. We both know she can do a lot worse! You're being foolish!"

Hiruzen stared at the man hard, allowing an aura of KI to wash over the man. Danzou immediately froze up at that. "I didn't ask you for your opinion. Like a shinobi, I expect you to do your job. Now, go back to your ROOT headquarters, which you think I don't know about", Danzou's remaining eye visibly widened, "And have your army of shinobi, which again you're stupid enough to think I don't know about, and do your damn job." Hiruzen got up, moving around his desk, to stand in front of Danzou. "Or…I'll remove you and find someone who can."

If the elder wasn't all but choking on his 'rivals' KI he probably would muster up the courage to glare hard at the man. At the tip of his tongue, he was getting ready to snap back, with something along the lines of, _As if any of my men would follow anyone's orders but my own._ But one look at Sarutobi told him to keep his mouth shut. In the end, all he could say was, "As you wish, Hokage-sama."

The KI let up and Hiruzen turned his back towards Danzou, something normally construed as either a horrible mistake or a sign of disrespect…or both. "Good, you may leave my presence."

Seething on the inside, Danzou bowed his head and turned to leave the room. His orders were clear, and any show of disobedience would be met with appropriate methods.

**

* * *

A/N:**

**Jutsu List:**

**Name: **Naruto Style: Icha Icha Harem

**Rank: **B (based on the rank of the Shadow Clone Technique), SS (Kakashi's personal opinion)

**Class**: Ninjutsu/Taijutsu combo.

**Users: **Naruto

**Info: **Naruto creates a large amount of Shadow Clones, and then uses the **Transformation Technique** to disguise them as naked women, naked women based upon Kakashi's favorite novel. According to him (Kakashi) it has the power to work on all straight men…and lesbians…and men who dress and look like women, but still like women.

**Name: **Phoenix Technique

**Rank: **B

**Class:** Ninjutsu (medical)

**Users:** Naruto, Tsunade (no longer uses), most ANBU, others…

**Info:** Once it was the only healing technique in existence, now it's just an obsolete technique that's all but forgotten by true medic-nins. The answer for those who want a healing technique, but don't have the chakra control or anatomy expertise to use the more sophisticated techniques. The precursor to the **Mythical Palm Technique** and, by extension, most modern healing techniques.

**Name: **Heavenly Illusion: Raging Tiger, Striking Dragon: Swan flies over the waterfall in the Moonlight

**Nickname: **Heavenly Illusion: Drunken Haze

**Rank: **D

**Class: **Genjutsu

**Users: **Sakura, Kurenia, countless other Konoha-nin.

Info: Puts the user into a drunken haze. Unfortunately, its affects take a while to build up from, slightly buzzed to completely drunk. However, if it affects the target long enough, they tend to be too drunk to realize they are under a Genjutsu. Unfortunately, it rarely has a chance to affect most opponents in such a manner.

**

* * *

A/N: To revamp the Chunin exams, I'll probably end up axing one or two of the Konoha teams that pass the exam (not by killing them off…probably). But they'll probably fail the Second Part, and I'll either add more people to both the prelims and Third Exam, or get rid of the prelims altogether. **

**Anyway, I just wanted to do a minor poll to decide which team should get the Sword of Damocles (once again I'm not killing anyone…probably). Be aware I won't necessarily follow the poll (I already have one of the teams in mind) I'm just curious what most people think (if anything, I'll follow the poll for the 'second' team I axe…if I get rid of a second team that is, still too early to decide). Anyway, the teams are:**

**Team Gai: Neji, Tenten, Lee**

**Team 8: Shino, Hinata, Kiba**

**Team 10: Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji.**

**Team Kabuto (not sure his number: Kabuto, Yoroi, and Misumi**

**Feel free to list a reason why the team you picked should lose the second part, like I said I'm really interested in hearing a public opinion.**


	4. Introducing the Grey

**A/N: This will be my longest chapter to date, which is funny, considering how much i summarize. Some parts of this chapter are going to seem rushed, and that's because they are. Essentially (at least during the Wave arc) anything that I feel is going to be too close to canon will be summarized. Some people seemed to approve of how I did it last chapter, I hope most people feel the same.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. If I did, I'd have a decent Game Company make a Naruto video game that is actually GOOD. Oh yea…I went there. Thinking about it, I'd probably give it to Bioware (the makers of KOTOR and a whole bunch of other kick ass games).**

**

* * *

Chapter 4: Introducing the Grey**

Runa's house wasn't _too_ far away from Tazuna's, something that made Naruto glad. While he really wanted to _finally_ meet Runa in person, he also didn't want to leave his team alone for too long. Runa simply told him that they were safe, and would continue to be so for the few hours the two of them would be meeting. She gave him her word on that.

Being calmed by the woman's assurance, he decided to sprint towards her house, after leaving his teammates with the excuse that he would be scouting the surrounding area. After thinking it over for a bit, Sasuke agreed that it would be best to get some information, and mentioned that he should hide a few Shadow Clones in the surrounding trees, which he decided to do. Sakura seemed a mixture of concern and happy about his decision.

In the end, he sprinted for a little under twenty minutes and reached Runa's home. Not noticing that he was breathing a bit quicker than he normally did, continued walking towards the front door. He knocked three times.

Less than a few seconds later the door cracked open just enough to reveal a young woman on the other side. Her hair, which was an odd shade of green, was cut short, going down to just above her shoulders. Her eyes were also an odd color, being a bright orange, something that made Naruto more than a little jealous. She wore a tight white t-shirt and matching white skirt. Her outfit seemed to contrast her bronze skin perfectly. She gave the boy an analyzing look before nodding. "You must be Naruto", she said before opening the door wider, gesturing him to come inside. "Master has been waiting for you."

Naruto blushed, scratching his head, "I guess…you already know my name." He said, not completely beating around the bush.

She obviously got what he was trying to say, "My name is Fu." Once again, she gestured for him to walk in, which he did this time. She turned on her heel, and began walking away, waving for him to follow. She led him into a large living room. And that's where he saw her, sitting in a regal manner, on the couch.

She looked exactly like she always did when the two of them spoke in his mind. Her blue eyes looked at him, studying his every movement. "Hi! I'm Naruto", he said with a wave. Almost immediately he wanted to slap himself, and he visibly showed it. 'Idiot! She already knows who you are!' Was he that nervous?

His eyes widened when she began laughing, amusement written all over her face. At that the blonde had the decency to look sheepish, blushing beat red. "I presume by your look that you realize how unnecessary your introduction was, correct?"

Refusing the meet the older woman face to face, Naruto just nodded. "Sorry…"

Runa waved it off, "Considering how we've been speaking prior to this moment, I think your little lapse is excusable."

Naruto looked up at that, smiling slightly.

"Now, if you desire I'll allow you ask a few questions, and afterwards we'll get to why I have asked you to come here."

'Questions?' For some reason he hadn't thought about asking her anything. He'd wanted to meet her for a while now, but to actually ask questions? He always assumed she was from Konoha, but considering that she seemed to lived outside of the village, he wasn't quite so sure anymore. "Where are you from?"

"I am from Konohagakure no Sato", was her simple reply. "Was that not obvious?"

The blonde frowned, "Its where I thought you were from, but why haven't I ever seen you in the village?" Sure, he didn't expect to see the woman everyday, and considering her telepathic abilities he really didn't need to. But to FINALLY meet her in, not only another village, but another Country. It just seemed weird to him.

"I'm something of a recluse, so I decided to live apart from the village."

He raised an eyebrow "I didn't know ninja were allowed to live outside of the village?" It was a statement but was phrased as question.

Either way, Runa answered it as such. "The really good ones are."

Naruto nodded. There were a few more things he wanted to ask her, but in the end his current mission came to mind. "Since you live in Wave, do you know what's happening here?"

"I presume you mean concerning the businessman."

He nodded again. "Tazuna, the old man who hired us, says his name is Gatou." The blonde gave Runa a hard look, fire in his eyes. "We're going to help Tazuna build the bridge, and then he won't be able to hurt the people of Wave anymore."

Runa frowned, "I disagree. The businessman can just as easily destroy the bridge before, or even after, it is completed. He could even take control of the bridge and apply his tax to traveling through _his_ new bridge." The Jinchuuriki frowned at that thought. "Merely defending the bridge until it is completed will not be enough, and the engineer knows this. I'm sure the engineer is counting on you to realize this."

He gave her an odd look. "We can't just keep defending the bridge until Gatou gives up." Naruto thought with a sigh, as if it was the first time it occurred to him.

'He's still far too slow, but at least he's beginning to think more critically', Runa thought with approval. "That is correct, unless you plan to spend the rest of your lives in Wave, something your village will never allow. The businessman will never give up on Wave either, he has too good of a Monopoly. He'll continue to throw his money at you and the people of Wave until he gets what he wants, like the petulant man-child he is. So the question is, what do you do?"

Naruto looked at her. "We have to stop him."

"And how will you do that?"

"I'll make him leave." Naruto said with confidence.

"As I said, the businessman will come back to reclaim what is his, even _if_ you chase him out. He knows your team won't stay forever. So I ask again, what will you do _oh hero of Wave._" She obviously said that last part mockingly.

Naruto frowned.

Runa smiled. "You know the answer Naruto. The only way to be rid of him for good is to **kill** him", she declared.

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Or did you presume you would spend your entire shinobi career without taking a life?"

He looked down, "No…I just…"

"Upset about killing a low-life who has tortured and murdered people for the sake of filling his wallet?"

He looked up with some fire in his eyes "No! That's not it at all."

"Oh, well let me ask you this. There is a small bandit _camp_ not too far from here. You've probably heard a lot about bandits at their Academy. They are lawless warriors who prey on the weak, pillage villages, abduct and rape women." She waited to get a reaction out of him, to which he nodded with slight anger in his eyes. "Well that is mostly false. _Most_ bandits, no matter how big their company is, are usually too dimwitted and weak to do much more than preying on a few travelers on the road. Most non-shinobi villages have some sort of militia that can drive most bandit companies off. Most that is…I received word from my sources not long before you showed up. These men, nine total, have taken three young women for their own pleasure. Let me rephrase that, they took three girls, not much older than yourself, and are _using_ them as they please. The women essentially had their human rights stripped from them and are now the _property_ of those men. Would you be upset about killing those men?"

Dark thoughts began flooding Naruto's mind. All of them making them enraging him more and more. He's heard about slave trade and what not. It always amazed him how some people could do such disgusting things to there own kind. Naruto growled, "Tell me where they are! I'll save the girls myself!" he declared. There was a fierce determination in his voice. Obviously her words were having a strong affect on the boy.

Runa smiled at that. "Fu!"

The green haired girl returned a few moments later, this time she was dressed in black, from head to toe. Her head was the only unclothed part of her body. Oddly, now she was carrying a red-clothed cylindrical-shaped object on her back. "Master?"

"I see you are ready to go. There has been a change in plans, I wish for you to take Naruto with you."

Fu frowned, "Is that wise Master?" There was obviously a deeper meaning in her question, but Naruto couldn't place his finger on it. He was starting to get the feeling that she was underestimating him though.

"I believe he will be an asset to your mission. Lead him upstairs, I believe you'll find an outfit, similar to yours, in his size."

Fu bowed, "Yes Master." She then gestured for Naruto to follow, which he began to, but he quickly stopped.

"I need to get back to my team soon", Naruto said, somewhat indecisively.

"The Jounin will be unconscious for the rest of the day, and their home is remotely obscure so no one will think to look for them there. Aside from that, the future Hokage should be able to complete an operation of this magnitude in no more than three hours."

The blonde nodded, the fire back in his eyes. "I'll be back in half of that."

"Don't make promises you cannot keep, my young apprentice."

"I never go back on my word, that's my ninja way", he declared with determination in his voice. With that last statement, he went after the girl.

The moment Naruto vanished upstairs, a single tear slid down the woman's face.

* * *

-x- Back in Konoha -x-

Kreia, aka the Mind Puppeteer, took possession of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. It wasn't _that_ difficult for Danzou to figure out. After Hiruzen's…lapse in self-control several months back, he had a few of his men follow the Kyuubi container. Unfortunately, they couldn't track him twenty-four seven. The ANBU, who were hidden throughout the village, would take notice if they saw other ANBU, his ROOT, following anyone around, **especially** if that someone happened to be the Kyuubi container. They would then report to Sarutobi, who would put a stop to it immediately.

In the end, the information they managed to get from the boy was…normal…to normal in fact. The boy would train, normally by punching a log every now and then, but his ROOT forces never gave him anything particularly interesting. He had begun to believe that Hiruzen's lapse of restraint was perhaps due to the Kyuubi containers whining. That was the day the boy learned of his tenant, after all, so it wouldn't be out of the question for the boy to throw some type of tantrum.

Those thoughts ended when Sarutobi gave him his orders. _"Track and neutralize Kreia Yamanaka."_ Sure, if they move quickly and efficiently, they could probably kill the woman without her doing much damage…if one considered the death of most of **his** operatives, as little damage. Was that Sarutobi's goal, destroy two enemies at the same time?

Danzou shook his head. He wouldn't do that. He made it perfectly clear that he would remove him if needed, a threat he knew the man would carry out with little reservation. Kreia always put Sarutobi in that type of mood.

The man rubbed his head in annoyance. He needed to decide what to do. The obvious choice was to discard the Kyuubi container. The moment Kreia sunk her teeth into the boy; he had officially become worthless to Danzou's goals, and by extension the Leaf village. Unfortunately, he couldn't move against the boy. Simply put, Hiruzen wouldn't _allow_ him to move against the boy…not unless Sarutobi was ready to move against him. Considering that Hiruzen revealed that he knew that Danzou's disbanded ANBU Cell, wasn't really disbanded after all, illustrated the point that he was still under Sarutobi's thumb. So many actions he'd taken from the shadows, all under Sarutobi's nose…only to learn that the man had allowed him to do so. It made Danzou sick.

Then there was also Hiruzen's…gift. The very thought of it made Danzou seethe. He spent years developing his secret bunker in no longer used, thought to be destroyed, ANBU headquarters. He thought he was well hidden. When he arrived at his private office, a few hours after his talk with Sarutobi, he was treated with a present. There was a cupcake on his desk. White frosting with rainbow sprinkles, with one lit candle on top. A small piece of paper attached to the candle, inscribed with very familiar handwriting.

"_I'm watching you."_

It had actually sent a chill down his spine. Hiruzen was obviously not playing any games with this. He needed to make a decision. He had to either attack Kreia, without her knowing. Or take out the Kyuubi container, without Sarutobi knowing. Danzou's eyes narrowed, thinking about his precious ROOT cell. "They're not prepared for this."

* * *

-x- Runa's Home -x-

Naruto followed Fu back out to the living room, dressed in the same black outfit she was. He had to admit, though he loved his orange jumpsuit to death, he definitely enjoyed wearing this one. 'I totally feel like a real ninja in this get-up.'

"Good. In case your wondering why I had you dress differently, it's to protect your identity. Since you're doing an unsanctioned mission, it'd be best if no one saw what you actually looked like. It's also important that they don't know you work for the Leaf Village. Understand?"

Naruto nodded, only partially understanding her logic.

"Now, before you begin, there are a few things you both should know about each other." She paused for a moment to turn towards Fu, "Fu, I never mentioned this about Naruto, but he contains a demon within him, just like you." Both Naruto's and Fu's eyes widened, both for different reasons. For Fu, it was a sense of shock. For Naruto, it was also a sense of shock but with a slight tinge of betrayal. "Naruto, unless you weren't paying close enough attention, you probably realized that Fu is a demon container as well."

The sliver of betrayal evaporated almost instantly as he looked at the girl and she looked back. "There are more people like me?" was the first question he issued.

"Of course. Just like how the knowledge to forge swords spread throughout the land; after the first the first Demon Container came into existence, everyone seemed to want one…yet at the same time they _acted _like they didn't want one, if you both catch my meaning." It was obvious they did. They were both created, out of _necessity_, and yet they were treated like garbage…worse than garbage really. "I told you this since you will both will be fighting together, you need to understand that you are both very similar in many ways. Remember this and come back, both of you."

Glancing back at the woman, they both nodded. Then the both left, still shooting glances at each other.

Upon the two leaving the residence a figure appeared behind the elder woman. "Want some ale?" Mojo asked as he offered her a sake saucer filled with his personal ale.

She took the saucer with a small nod, "Did you run out of mugs?"

"Figure I'd try something different", he asked as he down the drink in one gulp. He looked at the saucer with a frown before placing it down. "Far to small for my taste."

"I had thought you would feel that way. It didn't seem like, _your cup of tea_, as they say."

"Speaking of such, may I ask why you're sending your apprentices on such a philanthropic mission. Whatever happened your whole, one must survive with their own power, or what not. Saving helpless girls just doesn't seem like your _mug of ale_."

The woman frowned, "I suppose that's another way to say it."

"I like ale more than tea", Mojo replied happily downing another saucer.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, to answer your question, I'm sending them on this mission for other reasons, not because I want to save a few girls. In truth, Fu was sent because she lacked experience, something she doesn't normally receive while she is with me, for obvious reasons."

Mojo nodded. The woman needed to stay hidden most of the times, which made it difficult at times to send the young girl out to receive any type of combat experience. Lest her, Fu's, actions draw attention to their location, tipping off those that wish to do either of them harm. Naruto, of course, doesn't have a lot of experience either. However as a registered Konoha shinobi, he is more than likely to receive additional battle experience in the coming months.

"And Naruto was sent because he's to…pure, really."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Despite all his experiences, and the fact that he was forced to grow up much faster than _any_ child his age, within Konoha, he still thinks like a child. He still sees the world as black and white." She grinned somewhat. "Which is why I sent him as well. I wish to introduce him to the grey."

Mojo nodded, understanding her meaning. It was likely the boy would receive his first kill on the mission, which would effectively tear away the last shreds of his childhood…whatever childhood he had left that is. "Just one more question. What do you plan to do regarding our uninvited guest?"

The elder Yamanaka smiled, "I believe he is here to see me, so I'll speak with him personally. If he decides to run you may illustrate to him just how fast a Pandaren is." Mojo nodded, before leaving the woman "alone". "Itachi's younger brother, you may come out now."

A door opened, before almost immediately slamming shut, revealing Sasuke Uchiha. He glared at the woman before growling out, "Do you always give people annoying nicknames?" It was a simple question with an obvious answer. She called Tazuna the engineer, Gatou the businessman, and even called Konoha's Shinobi Academy: _their _Academy, oddly. He still wondered just who _their_ referred to; perhaps one of the Hokages? Most annoyingly, to the Uchiha, was how she referred to him as Itachi's younger brother. He had an inkling that she would refer to him as such, even if she knew his name, and his stance against his genocidal brother. Though, since she already new his relationship to Itachi, she probably already knows his name…and his stance as well.

"I've been told it's a quirk of mine."

He gave her one of his trademark scowls (version 5).

"Are you going to tell me why you broke into my home, or should I just guess the reason?"

Straight to the point, "I was wondering where the dobe was going, didn't know there were other Konoha shinobi out here."

"What makes you think I am a shinobi of Konoha? Just because I told Naruto I was?"

He grabbed something from his pocket and tossed it at her feet. It was a hitai-ate with a brown cloth, and the symbol for leaf carved into the metal. "I've seen plenty of pictures of a _much_ younger version of you, wearing that, in one of your closets."

"Quite the little investigator you are. Well, good job."

Sasuke gave her a hard look. "You're the one who trained the dobe."

"If you are referring to Naruto, then you are correct."

"I want you to train me as well."

"And why do you presume my training will be enough for one such as you."

"When he joined my class, the dobe could barely toss a kunai without tripping over his own feet. Six months later he's learned two techniques not taught in the Academy, and coming up with effective combat strategies, nearly on the fly", Sasuke explained with a scowl. "Even if he were holding back the last few years, there's no way he held back _that_ much of his strength and skill…not without **someone** noticing him."

The woman gave no indication that she had even heard the boy, something that annoyed the Uchiha.

"Well?" he snapped.

"Well what?"

His left eye started to twitch. "Will you train me?"

"Of course not, what made you think I would waste my time?"

Sasuke seethed, "I'm much better than that dobe!"

"You'd do well to check your tone of voice, Itachi's younger brother," she, not really, threatened.

Unfortunately, the nickname didn't do much to sate Sasuke's growing anger. "You fight for Konoha, don't you? I have way more potential than Naruto does, so why don't you train me as well…or instead."

"I highly doubt that, my chosen has hidden potential that you could never match."

"What, you mean that Demon container stuff, what does that even mean?" Sasuke asked.

"It isn't for you to know." The woman said, as she got up from her seat. Her tall, lithe frame was now towering over the Uchiha. "You wish to know why I won't train you? Simple, you are far to dark-sided."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that. "All ninjas are dark."

"Very true, but you are filled with far too much anger and hatred that your very sanity is hanging on a thread. One push and you wouldn't even qualify as a ninja of leaf, but just another marionette. The only question is, **when** that time comes, who will pull the strings?"

"I'm no ones damn puppet! I'm Sauke Uchiha, avenger of the Uchiha clan! I'll kill Itachi and resurrect my clan!" the boy declared, going slightly red in the face.

It was at that point that Kreia gave the boy a smile "You believe you have the power to face the artist, yet you don't even know anything regarding where that power even comes from."

"The artist?"

Kreia gave him a twisted smirk, "What else do you call someone who could butcher their own family in such a manner? An 'artist' of course."

That did it. Sasuke's face turned redder, he unleashed a great amount of KI, and gave her the most withering look he could manage, "I'LL KILL YOU!" He yelled as he charged the woman, kunai in hand. All rational thoughts, the ones telling him: she was a Konoha-nin, and that she could offer him great strength, left him. He wanted blood. Less than a few feet away, Sasuke leapt at her, prepared to stab her with his kunai. Kreia casually took a step to the side, easily dodging Sasuke's attack. He was about to move to try again, but dropped the kunai. His eyes widened and clutched his head "AAHHH!" It felt like his head was exploding. He fell to his knees, and dropped his head to the ground.

"How disappointing, where is that vigor you displayed just moments ago."

He managed to look up towards her; his eyes were turning red under the strain. "You…how?"

"How indeed. How do you believe you aren't a puppet, when everyone around you has been manipulating you since the very beginning? You are still being manipulated to this very day." His face fell again, as the pain increased significantly. "You refuse to _think_ and try to understand the situation around you? Have you ever asked yourself; is Itachi your only enemy? Did he have allies? Is he the only Uchiha whom betrayed your clan that day or were there others?" His eyes were clenched tight. He could feel consciousness leaving him. "How was it that Itachi could butcher your entire clan without _anyone_ in the village finding before it was to late? How was it even possible for him to massacre your entire clan, by himself? Itachi was strong yes, but was he truly such a behemoth that he could extinguish so many lives, many of whom had decades more experience than himself. No, you didn't stop to ask these questions. Because you refuse to **think** for youself!" Sasuke unconsciously curled himself up in a fetal position. "You saw your enemy in front of you, and you refuse to let him leave your eyes for a moment, that you turn your back to all others. FOOL!" With that Sasuke lost consciousness. "So many alive who are placing their hopes and dreams on your shoulders, so many dead who want the retribution that only **you** are able to provide-" Kreia began speaking slowly, in a monotone voice. "-and you'll allow yourself to break under the weight of their expectations. As you are now, you'll never be anything more than the second coming of Itachi Uchiha. Pathetic." She spat the last word as she watched the unconscious child.

Mojo walked back into the room and spied the down Uchiha, "Harsh, no."

"Hmmm", was Kreia's only response.

* * *

-x- With Naruto and Fu –x-

"So, where are you from?"

Fu's eyes narrowed. "It doesn't matter", she snapped coolly.

The blonde sighed. They had been running for the last ten minutes, yet made next to no conversation. Mostly, it was her directing Naruto through the forest with as little words as possible. The silence was becoming deafening. "If you're not from Konoha, why are you with Master Runa?" Seemed like a decent enough question. He knew she wasn't from Konoha, or at least he believed so. The Kyuubi no Kitsune was the only demon that attacked Konoha, from what they were told. Then again, he was also told that the Kyuubi was destroyed and that he was a normal young man…so he probably couldn't take everyone's word at face value. He looked back at the girl noting, by her face and body structure, that she looked to be about his age, give or take a year. He couldn't remember seeing a girl like her in Konoha before. He'd definitely remember the green hair. She was tanned, a bit more tanned than he was used to seeing people. Aside from that, if there were another Demon container in Konoha, they would have probably been treated as a pariah as well? 'I've had heard about it, if there was someone else like me' he rationalized. "Do you have a last name?"

"Is there a valid reason for your question, or are you just curious." It wasn't an actual question, but a statement. She actually knew, or was extremely sure, he was asking out of curiosity.

The blonde scowled. He was about to retort but stopped when she gestured for him to come to a halt.

They both got behind a few trees and peered over through them. "They're in there." She gestured towards a building.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Does everyone own a house a few miles away from the actual village?" First Tazuna, then Runa, and now some bandits…really?

"I'm guessing they're not the ones who own it. Who knows what they did to the people who did."

That nearly made him growl.

"Put you mask on", she commanded as she placed her own mask over her head.

Naruto did the same. With the mask on, the two looked like what most people believed a true shinobi dressed in. "What now?"

"I scout the tower and find out where our targets are."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Shhh", she snapped as she placed her head against the tree, closing her eyes in concentration. He looked at her oddly, giving her a questioning look. After a few moments, her eyes snapped open. "Most of them are on the bottom, with a few on top. The _captives_ are also in the top floor in a separate room.

Naruto nodded.

"I'll take the ones at the bottom, you scale your way to the top and secure the captives."

He raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't we stick together?"

She gave him a hard look, "If we do that, one of them may take one of the girls hostage. Then what?"

The boy sighed in resignation. "Ok, so how do I get to the top?"

"You don't want to go inside, it'll null the point in you trying to sneak your way up." She pointed her finger to the side of the house. "Looks like some vines imbedded themselves to the side there, you should be able to get to that window from there."

Naruto nodded.

"Don't get yourself killed", she muttered as she took off. With all the speed she had been trained in, she made for the closest window and crouched down beside it. She took a moment to look inside, seeing Naruto moving with her peripheral vision. She did a quick count, before grabbing something from one of her pouches. She placed a few spheres in each of her hands before moving backwards away from the building. She then launched herself forward and leapt up through the window.

The men inside jumped to their feet when they heard the window shatter. "What the hell!" One yelled.

'Three to the left, two to the right-' She threw the black orbs towards the right and to the left. They exploded in red smoke.

"What the hell?"

"A shit!

"My eyes!"

She looked in front of her. "And one to the center", she said, pulling out a kunai, she launched herself forward at the stunned man. She buried the blade deep into his chest before dancing around his frame.

When the red smoke cleared, it revealed most of the men were on the ground. However, all of them were blinded by their tears, eyes red from whatever the smoke was.

She then pulled out a chained-sickle. "Like fishing with explosives."

* * *

-x- upstairs –x-

Naruto stared at the two men he had knocked out with a smile. Looking around, he only saw one room with a closed door. A quick peek through the open doors proved that neither room was currently occupied, so he deduced that the hostages were in the closed room.

Roughly, he burst through the door, nearly slamming it off its hinges. Eyes widening, he ducked just in time to prevent himself from being beheaded. Taking a quick glance, he could see the last man in the room, in front of him, and the three hostages in the corner, looking up at them in fear. He roughly aimed a kick just under the man's chest.

He had taken the other two out the same way. Blow to the stomach, to make them lose all the air in the lungs, and then a quick strike to the back of the neck for a quick knockout.

Unfortunately, this man moved at just the right moment, taking Naruto's kick square in the chest. Painful as the kick may have been, it wasn't a deliberating blow, and therefore useless to his plan. The man placed his sword in front of him in a defensive stance.

The blonde resisted the urge to glance at the hostages, 'If he tries to use them as a shield, this could get ugly.' The man lunged at him, striking to his left then to his right. Naruto quickly dodged each one, and then sidestepped a strike that would have cleaved him down the middle. Naruto grabbed three kunai from his pouch, 'Distract him with the throwing knives, then knock his ass out', he thought. Smiling, he threw all three blades just as the man lunged after him again.

His eyes widened as one of the kunai, veering off course, went right passed the man's neck. The man stopped his lunge to reach for his neck with his right hand. A slit appeared, a blood began drizzling out. Dropping his sword, he grabbed the wound with both hands, staring at Naruto with a wide-eyed expression. He stumbled backwards as blood began leaking through his hands and crashed into the back wall. He slid down, wheezing to try to breath.

His face was twisted in a silent scream, as he stared at the blonde with wide eyes. He died trying to scream…yet he couldn't

Naruto could only stare at the scene before him. Wide eyes. Heart beating rapidly. Breathing hard. Hands shaking. Nausea rising. Unshed tears.

* * *

-x- An hour later –x-

"Naruto there you are." The blonde looked up to see Sakura coming towards him. He had just gotten back to Tazuna's home. He was visibly exhausted, and seemed to be shaken to the core. Scanning Sakura, he could tell that she was looking tired as well; she looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Have you seen Sasuke-kun?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow, "Sasuke? I've been out for the last few hours, why would I have seen him."

Sakura scowled at him. "After you left, he decided he should go scouting as well, and left me here." She was obviously saddened by that last part. Naruto shrugged, SOMEONE had to look after Kakashi and Tazuna's family. "Didn't you two meet up?"

Naruto shook his head. "We must have missed each other." He said as he went upstairs.

"Where are you going? Aren't you going to look for him?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Why?" To quote Shikamaru, this conversation was beginning to take a turn towards the _troublesome_ side.

"He could be in trouble! Someone might have taken him hostage!" she snapped, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The blonde rolled his eyes, though he didn't let his crush see it. "Sasuke's the rookie of the year, he'll be fine." He tried to rationalize. He had gone into an actual battle and he was…physically healthy. If Sasuke was just scouting around, he shouldn't have gotten into anything serious. Right?

Unfortunately, Sakura was having none of it, "But Sasuke-kun could be hurt!"

If Naruto weren't as physically exhausted as he was, he would probably jump at the chance to help his crush out, even if it did involve looking for Sasuke. If he wasn't as mentally exhausted as he was, he'd tell her not to worry herself over what-ifs, even if it did end up annoying her more. Unfortunately, he felt as if he had just finished fighting off an elephant with a rolled up newspaper. In the end, he just continued walking upstairs, hoping she would leave him alone for a few moments.

"NARUTO!"

He finally reached the room he was supposed to be sharing with both Sasuke and Kakashi. He opened it and blinked at what he found.

SMACK

Naruto flinched as Sakura smacked him over the side of the head, "Don't just ignore me!" she shrieked.

Turning towards her, the blonde sent her a dark look, "Sasuke's in there, sleeping!" he snapped at her, seething in anger and annoyance. She didn't _have_ to hit him!

Ignoring the dark look he sent her, Sakura looked passed him and smiled. She shoved her way pass him, running towards the sleeping Uchiha.

The blonde rolled his eyes. He silently wondered where Tazuna and his family were. 'Probably already asleep.'

With that conclusion in mind, the boy went to the only unoccupied bed in the room, ignoring Sakura who was cooing over the Uchiha. He kicked off his sandals and slid under the covers, not even bothering to change out of his ninja attire. After listening to Sakura for a few more moments, he roughly grabbed his pillow and placed it over his head. He thought about the advantages and disadvantages of throwing it at her. In the end he rationalized that she'd just get even **louder** with her displeasure. Naruto eyes widened at that thought, 'She'd be more annoyed at me…' he corrected himself. He didn't want to make Sakura-chan mad at him, he didn't think she was loud…or annoying. Not one bit.

Not one bit.

* * *

-x- the next morning –x-

Sasuke woke up with a massive headache. 'Where am I?' He looked around. He saw Kakashi sleeping in the cot to his right. He turned towards his left to see Naruto sleeping in another cot, or at least he thought it was Naruto. The size and proportions of the person hiding under the blanket and pillow suggested it was he. 'When did I get back here? And why do I feel like someone's been using my head as a drum.' He groaned. 'How'd I even get here?' The morning sun was shining _far_ to brightly. 'When did I go to bed last night?'

He stayed like that for several moments, before finally finding the strength to get up. He sat there for several moments, just sitting on his cot. _'-is Itachi your only enemy?'_ Sasuke's eyes widened. Where did that come from. _'Is he the only Uchiha whom betrayed your clan that day or were there others?'_

Sasuke's eyes widened again, "What the hell?" It was an odd thought, though he chose to ponder that one, ignoring the earlier one. Itachi and him were the only two Uchihas not accounted amongst the…bodies, and there were only Uchiha, no other ninjas. Could Itachi have gotten help, help that had perhaps fallen with the other Uchiha? Perhaps a few other Uchiha had decided to help him and had just fallen in battle? If so, all evidence of the deed was gone, seeing as Itachi was the only person who lived through the actual battle…and no one was going to bother to _ask_ him. Sasuke shook his head in anger. He had asked these questions of the Hokage a few days after the massacre. He had said only Itachi was the other survivor, there were no others. He worked alone, he acted alone, his reasons were unknown.

Sasuke knew though. Itachi had come right out and told him what it was. The crazed Uchiha wanted to test his power, his new eyes. He destroyed his whole family for that very purpose, that ridiculous, meaningless purpose. His mother, his father. Sasuke shook his head as he got up. Thinking about this now wouldn't do him any good. Best to save that anger for his training, where he could put it to good use.

'You are still being manipulated to this very day'

Sasuke frowned but shook his head. Probably something left behind in his subconscious, from a dream or something. It wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened to him, his dreams were usually pretty vivid and realistic; and tended to stay with him. The boy groaned as he went to go splash water on his face.

* * *

-x-

The next week went by rather quickly. Kakashi finally woke up the next day. A few moments later, looking at his students, he declared that Zabuza was still alive. He believed the hunter-nin was fake; he was most likely one of Zabuza's accomplices.

Kakashi decided to help his Genin train a bit. He began teaching them a chakra control exercise called the three-climbing exercise. Essentially, they would concentrate chakra to the soles of their feet, which would allow them to stick to a solid vertical surface, in this case a tree.

Sakura immediately got the exercise down, something that neither boy was able to simulate. The event proved to drive them both though, enough that they practiced as much as possible the skill. Though it was suppose to be an exercise to learn to control their chakra more efficiently, they both could easily see the advantages to being able to stick to a solid surface.

Kakashi stated that he was going back to the house. He said if they managed to get the exercise down, they should begin practicing the techniques he gave each of them. That surprised each of them. They hadn't realized Kakashi gave each of them something.

* * *

-x-

The blonde sighed as he finally took a break. The events of the last few days kept running through his head. Sakura was still ignoring him. Sasuke was glaring at them, though that actually made him smile. He was much farther along in the exercise than he was, probably because of the time he spent practicing **Phoenix Technique**. Seeing Naruto get ahead of the Uchiha, Sakura tried to give the boy, Sasuke, advice. However, whether through pride or arrogance, he chose to ignore her.

His progression was probably increased because he was able to practice long after either of his teammates were forced to quit. It made his life hell, but having the fox obviously had its advantages. He frowned. They definitely didn't outweigh the price though…

* * *

-x- Flashback (then minutes after Naruto's first kill) –x-

"How do you do it?"

_Fu gave him a questioning look. "Do what?"_

"_Kill…people…"_

_Fu frowned as she turned away from him. They were both in a small clearing, far away from where the battle took place. After the battle, Fu cut the girls loose, told them to go home, grabbed Naruto and left with him. She barely said two words after that. In a daze, Naruto allowed himself to be lead to a clearing._

_At this point, they both took of their masks and decided to take a few moments to rest. "It gets easier."_

_The blonde frowned. Obviously not the answer he was looking for. He just rested his head against a tree for a moment. "The councilor at the Academy didn't say it would be so difficult for me." Naruto scoffed, "She said I'd enjoy it. Shows what she knows."_

"_She was screwing with you, Naruto", she snapped._

_Naruto turned his head, questioning Fu further._

"_This can't be the first time you've been discriminated against for being a Demon container", it was worded as a question, but she obviously believed it to be a statement._

_The blonde frowned, "No…"_

_In turn, she frowned at him. "In case you haven't realized this, this is what it means to be a Demon container: You're a monster, everything is your fault, and you belong in the lowest pit of hell." Her calm tone of voice actually sent a chill down Naruto's spine._

"_Not everyone is like that" he tried to defend. Runa wasn't like that neither was the Hokage. Iruka __was__ like that, but he apparently changed quickly enough._

"_Enough of them are", she quickly responded. "The rest will follow when you make a stupid mistake, that's when you fall from grace."_

_The blonde looked away from her. He thought a lot about things that happened throughout his life. He didn't like what he saw. "We really are alone, aren't we?"_

_Fu sighed. "Not really, it just seems that way. There are nine Bijuu total, assuming all of them a sealed into a human that means that there are seven more of us. There are also __some__ people out there who are treated as bad as us; some are treated __worse__ than we are. In the end, it all amounts to one simple concept though: there are more of __**them**__, than there are of __**us**__."_

_Naruto stood up. Things were finally starting to go well for him in Konoha. Many people, mostly villagers who didn't have the training to hide their emotions, still openly disliked him. However, he finally found some places he could openly shop at, without being overcharged for crap. His list of friends kept increasing all the time. The thought of something happening to ruin all of that was…not pleasant._

"_My first kill-"_

_He snapped his head in her direction._

"_-was an accident. A disgusting old man tried to victimize me, in the same way those women were victimized by those men."_

_His eyes widened._

"_I struggled against him, ended up biting his tongue off. He then choked on his own blood." She sighed, visibly shaken by the memory. "And of course, when the __**investigators**__ came: I was the monster, I was at fault, I deserved to be condemned."_

"_I'm sorry."_

_She didn't seem to hear him, or maybe she pretended that she didn't. "My __**friends**__ turned on me as well. I wasn't human after all, it was only a matter of time until I became the beast."_

_Naruto frowned. 'Is this what I have to look forward to?'_

"_Master saved me from their false-justice. Half a year later, here I am."_

"_I'm sorry." He said again. That's when he understood. However hard it was for him to get by in Konoha, he suspected that it was that much harder for a girl in a similar position._

"_I'm not. I hated it there." She finally stood up. "Even with the people I once considered friends, I was always alone. It was only a matter of time."_

-x- End flashback –x-

* * *

"_It was only a matter of time."_

The blonde frowned as he rested his eyes. Shortly after that, they had arrived to Runa's house. After another…odd…conversation with the girl, he spoke with Runa for a bit, before she sent him to change his clothing and go back to his team. She told him not to come back unless she told him otherwise.

His thoughts kept coming back to what Fu had said though. Was he always alone? It felt that way, sometimes. What happened if a citizen of Konoha attacked him, and he accidentally killed his attacker in self-defense? Would he be condemned for something that wasn't even his fault? He shook his head. These thoughts weren't pleasant ones, not by a longshot. He just closed his eyes and let himself doze off. He'd take a break for a few hours and then continue his training.

He stayed like that for about an hour, not that he could tell the time, before he felt a feminine hand shake him awake. "You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here."

His eyes snapped open and look to see a girl with brown hair, whom was probably just a few years older than he was. "Huh, was I sleeping long?

She frowned, "I'm not sure, I found you like that while I was gathering some herbs."

Naruto took note of the light pink kimono she wore and blushed somewhat. "Ummm, well thanks for waking me up…I guess." He truly didn't know what to say. "Do you need any help?"

Naruto would spend the next ten minutes helping the girl gather the herbs. It shouldn't have taken nearly that long, but she actually tried to teach him what herbs could be used to help someone, and what herbs were actually poisonous. Naruto frowned several times from her explanations. Most of the plants looked exactly the same to him, she really did have an eye for this type of stuff.

"Are you a shinobi?"

Naruto blinked before smiling. "Was I that obvious?"

"The forehead protector", she began, pointing to his hitai-ate, "That's a symbol that you're a shinobi, isn't it?"

Blushing slightly at that mistake, Naruto laughed a bit. "Yea, it is."

"Not that I don't appreciate your help", she began as she put another herb in her basket, "But, your teammates will probably worry about you if you stay out here too long."

Naruto's face fell, "I'm not so sure", he muttered quietly.

"Huh?"

"Nothing", he responded quickly. No way he was going to bother such a cute girl with is problems.

She seemed to frown at his answer, but chose to let it go. "Are you strong Naruto?"

He had grinned a little sheepishly. "I like to think so, but I'm not quite sure. How would you judge a person's strength?"

She gave him a hard look. "I think someone who defends those close to their heart is strong."

"Protect those close to my heart?" Naruto asked quietly. He silently remembered the night he protected Iruka from Mizuki. Statistically speaking, he should NOT have been able to defeat an experienced Chunin, forbidden technique or not. Mizuki should have been able to wipe the floor with him. But he won. He won the right because he needed to…protect Iruka? Was that why he won? Because he had someone who was counting on him to win? Scrunching his face up in thought, he nodded, "Yea…I think I know what you mean.

The girl smiled at him, "Then I believe you will become a strong ninja indeed."

_-someone who defends those close to their heart is strong._

The words would stick with Naruto for the rest of his life.

* * *

-x- A few days later –x-

Fu walked into the office, trepidation in her steps and a scowl on her face.

"You don't like it?"

Fu sent her master, who was sitting in a large leather chair, a frown. "It's tacky." She then looked up at the wall, a row of stuffed animal heads nailed to the wall as trophies. "And why do I get the feeling he wasn't the one who actually hunted those."

"Bah, as if the businessman would ever get his hands dirty in such a fashion. Regardless, that isn't why I summoned you. Report!"

Fu stood at attention, "Of course Master. As you ordered, I observed the battle that took place between Naruto's squad and the people hired by Gatou." She began with a small frown. She still didn't understand why Master Runa asked her to observe the squad. Though Fu didn't understand how she did it, Master Runa always had the strange ability to see things that were really far away. Perhaps there was a limit? Or perhaps she couldn't concentrate it while she was moving…in this case, heading towards Gatou's office. "The missing-nin, Zabuza, and a masked accomplice, arrived first and attacked the engineers that were already on the bridge. Naruto's squad arrived, without Naruto, and with the bridge builder, Tazuna."

Runa frowned but chose not to comment on it.

"There was a small skirmish between Zabuza's masked accomplice and the black-haired boy on Naruto's squad."

"The boy on Naruto's squad is named Sasuke and the Jounin is named Kakashi" Runa stated. After Fu nodded, Runa told her to continue.

"_Sasuke_ seemed to have the upper hand. Shortly afterwards, Kakashi engaged Zabuza and Sasuke continued fighting the masked-person. The girl on his squad stood in front of Tazuna."

"A brief summary of the fight will suffice."

Barely registering that Runa didn't bother to give her the girl's name, she continued with her report. "Kakashi was beating Zabuza. The masked-nin trapped Sasuke inside of a prison of ice, which looked vaguely like a hall of mirrors."

"Ice?"

Fu nodded, "I think it might have been a bloodlimit."

Runa frowned, and ice-user. 'If they're still alive, they could prove to be useful in the future.'

"Naruto arrived soon afterwards, quietly and attacked the masked-nin with a shuriken. He tried a few more attacks while he was hidden, but the masked-nin evaded each one, so he was forced to reveal himself. Naruto…then entered the prison to _try_ and aid Sasuke."

Runa frowned. Seemed the boy began well enough, but then he made the ridiculous mistake of entering a trap. A costly mistake, no doubt.

"After a lengthy skirmish, it seemed that Sasuke was killed in an attack. Naruto then summoned the demon's chakra."

"I presume he had no control over his actions."

Fu shook her head, "Well at first. He destroyed the mirrors, which seemed indestructible prior to that. He then punched the masked-nin with enough force to send her flying back at least a good ten yards. It looked like he was about to finish her off, but he paused short of striking her down with another punch."

The woman frowned, "He regained control?" Fu nodded. "Interesting." Most Jinchuuriki who first draw upon the demonic energies, become feral until whatever or whoever caused them to draw upon the tainted chakra was destroyed. For Naruto to regain control without vanquishing the masked-nin was…unusual.

"The masked-nin's mask broke, revealing a _girl_. They seemed to talk for a bit after that. During that time, Kakashi captured Zabuza with…a pack of dogs", she said in slight disbelief. "After that he attacked Zabuza with a strange lightning technique, that covered his hand in chakra."

Runa stopped her there. "He had Zabuza immobilized, and _then_ decided to resort to a Ninjutsu to slay the man?" Fu nodded and Runa frowned. He could have ordered his ninja-hounds to rip him to shreds. He could have finished it off with a thrown kunai. But, no, he chose to needlessly end the fight with a high-ranking assassination technique, with a high chakra usage. 'Fool chose to needlessly waste energy over a simpler solution.' She turned back to Fu and ordered her to continue. Kakashi may be a fool, but he wasn't _her_ student, so she decided not to dwell on the fact too much.

"The girl, the one with the mask, used her ice abilities to get in the way of Kakashi's attack. She sacrificed herself to take the hit for Zabuza."

Runa scowled. 'Wasted potential.'

"Beforehand, she used senbon needles to destroy a summoning scroll, the one that summoned the dogs. The dogs disappeared and Zabuza got freed. Kakashi and Zabuza continued their skirmish, in which Kakashi used a blade to disable Zabuza's arms."

'**Now** he uses a kunai', Runa thought with a frown.

Before the fighting could end, Gatou appeared with a large group of hired swords. There was a small conversation between the two groups and Zabuza engaged Gatou's group with a kunai in his mouth. He killed a few of the mercenaries and went straight for Gatou. Zabuza slashed and stabbed Gatou several times, before slamming him into the water-"

"I believe I've heard enough", Runa stated.

Fu nodded and continued standing there, waiting for further orders.

"Return to home, I'll be back soon", she ordered.

Fu bowed before turning on her heel and walking out of the office.

"Did you get what I needed?" Runa asked, turning to the right.

"Don't know, all human writing looks like chicken scratch to me", Mojo replied, looking over the papers he had in his paws with a slight scowl on his features. Runa held out her hand and Mojo handed her the papers. "So, how much are you taking?"

"Enough for them to have many options available to them. I also wish to contract a couple of jobs for myself. Shouldn't even put a dent in this man's stores", she said. "The rest, I suppose, I'll leave to the vultures."

Mojo nodded.

She smiled at the papers, obviously having found what she needed. "I also believe its time for Naruto to become acquainted with your family."

"Oh, so you chose Naruto to sign the contract?"

Kreia nodded. "Yes, I believe he will have the most use for it. I suppose Fu could use it as well, but I actually have other plans for her, and the other one doesn't have the stamina to perform a summoning."

"So when will you give it to him?" the bear asked.

"Hmmm, that depends…"

* * *

-x- A week later –x-

The following day found team seven on the, soon to be named, Great Naruto Bridge. The majority of the people from Wave cheered them on, as they began their long journey home.

As he continued their trek down the bridge, Naruto couldn't help but feel disappointed. Partially because he didn't get to see Runa again, but mostly because he didn't get to see Fu again. Their last conversation, before they reentered Runa's home, had ended in an undesirable way.

He didn't even understand what he did wrong.

* * *

-x- Flashback (Thirty minutes after Naruto's first kill) –x-

"What'd you get from your Bijuu?"

_Naruto blinked. "I'm sorry?"_

"_Master says being a Demon container grants us certain…advantages. What did you get?"_

_The blonde Jinchuuriki frowned. "What did I get? I rarely get tired, and I apparently have really big chakra reserves."_

_The green-haired Jinchuuriki frowned, "High stamina and reserves are all common, amongst us. At least that's what Master says. Is there anything else?"_

_Naruto scrunched his face in thought. "Well, I notice I'm never sick. I also tend to heal faster than most people do."_

_Fu frowned, most Jinchuuriki had a higher constitution, so good health and higher regeneration is not uncommon, once again her Master's words, not hers. Accurate enough though, she herself rarely got sick, but to __never__ become ill was…impossible, wasn't it? "How fast do you heal exactly?"_

_Naruto shrugged. "I broke my arm once. It healed perfectly fine in like, three days."_

_Her eyes widened, jealousy written all over her face. He definitely healed faster than her, much faster. That unquestionably would give someone an edge in battle._

"_Why? What did you get?"_

_She scoffed. "Innately, I'm much stronger that most girl's my age." A few tests done by her village proved that she was three times stronger than most girls her height, weight, and body type. "Other than that, I recently learned I can secrete a type of nectar…which is really quite useless." She said the last part quietly with more than a little bitterness in her voice. Sure being stronger than most people her age, and some even older, had its perks. But being able to regenerate a broken limb in a few days was a godsend, especially to a shinobi. Not to mention never getting sick. She still remembered how a plague broke out in her village, that tended to ground normal people for two to three weeks. She herself was in bed for a little over a week, less time than most people, but still maddening. Too never get sick, in your entire life would be so…great._

"_Is it a sweet nectar? Nectar is normally sweet, right?"_

_Fu looked at Naruto oddly, blushing a bit. "Umm…I'm not sure. It's really disgusting, I never actually wanted to taste it." Why was he so focused on __that__, it was a useless skill? Hell, considering __**where**__ the nectar came from, it was down right embarrassing. It didn't help that Master Runa found it SO amusing, and kept telling her to find a purpose for it. Respect for her Master be damned, there was NO way she'd use it in actual combat. She didn't even know why she even mentioned it to him, it's not like she considered it as part of her lists of abilities. And seriously, nectar? Since when do beetles make nectar?_

"_Can I?"_

_She turned towards Naruto with a confused look, "Can you what?"_

"_Taste it?" he clarified._

_Naruto cocked an eyebrow, at Fu's reaction. Her face turned completely red. She began sputtering some nonsense, which he couldn't quite discern. Making no sense, she opted to just shoot him a dirtiest look she could muster. Then, strangely enough, she crossed her arms tightly over her chest in a defensive manner. "NO YOU CAN NOT!" she shrieked before stomping inside of the house, effectively ending their conversation. __**(1)**_

_Naruto blinked in confusion. "What just happened?"_

-x- End flashback –x-

* * *

Naruto sighed, as the event came back to him in great detail. He knew he probably wouldn't get a chance to apologize to her for some time, if at all. Hell, he didn't know **what** he was apologizing for. He essentially just asked her a question, a request really. "Girls are weird", he finally concluded, as he continued walking with his teammates.

**

* * *

A/N: Like I said, I skipped most of the Wave Arc that I didn't think was important. For the most part, I didn't think I'd do things all that different, so I chose to summarize everything. Anyway, there you go, hope you enjoyed it…**

**(1) I mainly did this as a Fan Service moment. I had planned to give her an ability (much later) where she secretes a substance similar to Kidomaru and uses it as some sort of weapon. The joke (however good/bad it was) is just a precursor to this. And ****NO****, if I use this she wouldn't be secreting the substance from her chest, she'd learn to do it from her fingers and possibly her mouth. **

**

* * *

Naruto: The Apprentice - Ninja Data Book:**

**1.**** Name****: **Hiruzen Sarutobi

**Age****: **68

**Affiliation****: **Konoha

**Taijutsu****: **S-ranked

**Genjutsu****: **S-ranked

**Ninjutsu****: **SS-ranked (Yea, he's that badass)

**Special Ability****: **Using two Ninjutsu simultaneously, allowing himself to use potent combination techniques by himself.

**2.**** Name****: **Kreia Yamanaka (Alias: Runa)

**Age****: **68

**Affiliation****: **Herself

**Taijutsu****: **A-ranked

**Genjutsu****: **SS-ranked (Yea, she's that badass)

**Ninjutsu****: **S-ranked

**Special Ability****: **Has taken the Yamanaka techniques farther than anyone else, creating many that qualify as Genjutsu.

**3.**** Name****: **Danzou

**Age****: **68

**Affiliation****: **Himself (ROOT) and Konoha (to a lower extent)

**Taijusu****: **A-ranked

**Genjutsu****: **A-ranked

**Ninjutsu****: **A-ranked

**Special Note****: **Abilities are currently hampered by the lost of one of his arms.

**Special Abilities****: **Currently none.

**

* * *

Next chapter will be out as soon as possible.**

**Please Review.**


	5. Us and Them

**A/N: Got the majority of this chapter down about a day after my last update (5000+ words). The majority of the rest of the time was spent refining everything. Hoped I did well. **

**Disclaimor: I don't own Naruto or KotOR**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Us and Them**

"You're late" the old woman frowned.

Turquoise eyes flashed to her, "Forgive my tardiness. Regardless, I'm here now. I believe we have business to attend to."

"Straight to the point I see. You truly are the entrepreneur people claim you to be." She pulled a piece of paper from her robes. "I want you to acquire a certain object for me."

The man frowned behind his mask. "In case you're not aware of this, I'm a bounty hunter not a thief", he said with displeasure in his voice. "Find someone else", he turned to leave.

"No, you are _not_ a bounty hunter, you are a businessman", she said in a matter of fact tone. "And I believe this will be a beneficial endeavor for you and whatever organization you represent", she said holding out the paper.

He frowned at the piece of paper but decided to take it from her. What was the harm in hearing out his proposition? He resisted the impulse to let his eyes widen in shock. "That's certainly a lot of zeroes for a stupid little rock." More than he made for some bounties he took.

"So, do we have a deal?"

"Just one question, why me? Surely you could have found someone else at a better deal."

"Is questioning your employer's motives a good business strategy?"

"No it isn't. Doing so normally goes against one of my rules. But then again, so does stealing. Like I said, I normally stick to bounty hunting."

"Assassinations over common thievery", she mocked. "Very well, if you must know, I chose you because I can't afford any mistakes. The _rock,_ as you call it, is already jealously guarded. If they find out someone is actively seeking it, their defenses will increase significantly. Which is why I'm sending you."

"Very well, I accept the terms of your contract", he stated. "For an operation of this nature, give me one month. Meet me here in exactly thirty days and have my payment ready for me", he ordered before turning on his heel. He knew this endeavor was going to piss of his partner…but hell, do did just about everything else. He'll just tell him they were likely to receive resistance from enemy ninja…that will cheer him up significantly.

With that, Kakuzu left.

* * *

-x- In Konoha –x-

It was cold.

Four years after _that_ day and it _still_ felt cold. Obviously, the warmth that once radiated throughout the Uchiha complex would be extinguish after _that_ day, but it always seemed like it was freezing.

There were times when he _swore_ he felt the personification of Death himself, lingering around his former Clan's compound. Feeling very much like a strange, otherworldly presence that stalked him from the shadows, a constant reminder of the havoc his brother wrought _that_ day.

Sasuke quickened his pace, aiming for his home.

Every time he walked down these streets, especially in the dark, he felt like he would be swallowed whole. Would death's avatar appear behind him and finally drag him into the shadows? Or would Itachi appear, deciding that he truly didn't want to test the potential of Sasuke's eyes, and slit his throat?

Sasuke's pace quickened even more. He really hated traveling through the complex at night. At times he silently wondered if he was developing a case of Nyctophobia, but scoffed at the idea. What kind of ninja was afraid of the dark? Besides, these feelings only crept up whenever he walked his own compound.

Unfortunately, they began to get worse. Something happened in Wave, he just wasn't quite sure what it was. Ever since that day he woke up, the day after they reached Tazuna's house, he's been hearing voices. Memories perhaps? The problem was that he didn't recognize the voice of the person whom spoke to him. It was…feminine…and old. Sasuke frowned, 'Not much to go on.' It wasn't so much that he was hearing voices, though he certainly _did_ realize that that alone wasn't healthy, but the subject matter involve in her voices.

For the last four years of his life, there had been one absolute in his life. Itachi was evil incarnate, he must die. And Sasuke _had_ to be the one to do it. Deep down, he truly believed himself to be the only one capable of killing Itachi, that the very thought of someone else doing it never actually crossed his mind. So he strived to train harder and harder, preparing himself for the day when he would finally defeat his treacherous older brother and finally avenge his family. Itachi was the most evil son of a bitch on the planet; that was the unconditional truth. But was it?

The voice suggested otherwise. It came at him, in moments when his mind was empty, thinking about nothing in particular. A voice constantly nagging him, telling him he was wrong, inciting him to ask strange questions that he never really thought about. Telling him that he was being used.

Used by who?

Did he allow his anger to blind him to the point that he was allowing someone actively manipulate him? But who? Itachi? Was Itachi manipulating him?

Sasuke frowned. 'He couldn't be…' He hadn't even seen Itachi since _that_ day.

Sasuke came to a halt, pulling a kunai out of his pouch; he quickly turned on his heel. His eyes scanned the streets behind him, silently searching the streets. '**Sharingan!**' He activated his one tomoe blood limit. He quickly began searching the streets, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He looked to the streets, seeing them empty. He looked to the alleyways, seeing nothing but shadows. Sasuke growled to himself as he deactivated his blood limit.

He turned and began full-blown jog towards his home, keeping the kunai in his hand. He needed to get off the streets. He needed more training. More training to keep his mind off of strange noises and fake specters. More training to ignore the phantom eyes that always seemed to burn a hole in the back of his head. He needed more training to prevent himself from going **insane**.

_"-you are filled with far too much anger and hatred that your very sanity is hanging on a thread."_

Sasuke violently shook his head, during his sprint. He needed to **kill** Itachi to finally bring light back to the Uchiha compound. Too finally put this war to an end.

* * *

-x- The next day –x-

Naruto frowned at the results of his training. He finally got the hang of the **Heavenly Subjugation**, but there was one thing that he didn't take into account, and that was the _recharge_ time of the technique. Apparently the act of altering the force of gravity was not something that could be done continuously…at least not quickly. His mastery over the technique had increased significantly over the past few months…and so had the techniques only weakness.

He was proud of the results. He managed to push a fifty-pound rock about twenty feet backwards. Though he wouldn't get the same distance with an actual person, yet, it would be enough to knock someone off their feet.

His right eye twitched the moment he felt something. "I think that was it."

"_Twenty-three seconds. That's how long it took you to regain the ability to use the Heavenly Technique, with the amount of power you put into it."_

The blonde frowned. "I still don't understand, why?"

"Once again, figuring out the why is part of your own training, so don't bother asking me." She ignored Naruto's pout. "Remember what I told you when I first taught you this technique: As you learn how to place more power into this technique, the 'recharge' time will increase as well. This 'recharge' time will naturally decrease as your own chakra control and mastery, over this **element**, increases. If you wish to improve, you will just have to diligently continue your training."

Naruto nodded, still a little annoyed at this one weakness.

"_If it helps, consider it the price for a technique you can use __**without**__ hand seals."_

That got Naruto to calm down a bit. The ability to move an object, person, with just the wave of his hand was not something to shake a stick at. And, though he wished it would move by more quickly, it wasn't like he hated the training.

Far away, Runa smiled at the boy's work ethic. _"It's almost noon, why don't you stop for a while. I'd like you to do something for me."_

"Another mission?" Naruto asked.

"_No, more of a favor for another student of mine."_

Naruto blinked, "Yea, sure. Who is it?"

"She normally lives alone, though she has a few servants to tend to her. She normally meals which are little more than nutrient supplements, I merely want you to bring her something that tastes better."

"Something that tastes better?"

* * *

-x- in the village –x-

"Thanks Ayame!" Naruto called out, carrying a large bag in his arms.

"No problem, have a nice day Naruto", she called back.

He thought about for a while (about half a second) and concluded what could taste better than ramen. And not just any ramen, but ramen from the Ichiraku ramen stand. Runa's other student was definitely in for a treat.

He followed Runa's very precise directions, ignoring the fact that they were leading him straight through the forest. His faith proved _**correct **_as he eventually found himself standing in front of a large manor, about the same size as Runa's home. He silently wondered why Runa's other student lived alone, miles in the forest away from the actual village. He shrugged, guessing he should ask her later about it. He walked up to the door, noting it was open, and decided to just walk inside. "Yakumo!" he called out.

If he had taken a few moments to look around, he may have noted the three unconscious bodies, in the bushes.

* * *

-x- far from Konoha –x-

The man known as the Toad Sage of Konohagakure, stepped into the large building known throughout the city as _Aphrodite's Palace_. Hiding the fact that he was fully aware of his surroundings, with a lecherous smile, he continued walking throughout the establishment.

After a moment, he spotted his target, chatting up one of the call girls; Jiraiya sat at the bar and ordered a drink. After a moment, he felt a hand brush again his arm. Glancing up, he saw a cute redhead, wearing the same outfit as the rest of the ladies. 'Kushina?' Jiraiya thought, not letting his surprise/shock show through to his face.

She winked at him, before lightly tapping on his arm and leaving. Watching her through is peripheral vision, he saw her begin to flirt with his target. His eyes narrowed, 'Is she after the same guy?'

After seeing watching the two for a while, he saw them stand up and go upstairs. After they disappeared, Jiraiya stood up and asked for a room. He got a room on the third floor, but had no intentions of actually going there. Kushina, through the tapping on his arm, had told him to go to room 204, on the second floor. He felt no need to give Kushina more time…she'd likely knock the poor idiot out the moment the door was closed. She was always in a bad mood whenever she was forced to go on missions of this nature…usually took her frustrations out on the target in the most violent way she could. After all, Kushina never belonged to the seduction-spec cell; she belonged to Torture and Interrogation cell.

'That poor bastard…'

* * *

-x- in Konoha –x-

Naruto looked the girl over for a moment. She looked like she was about ready fall over at any moment from sheer exhaustion. Long brown hair, with dark yellow eyes. Her skin was so pale Naruto wouldn't be surprised if she never went out into the sun. "Who are you?" She asked.

Naruto flinched at her voice. Her voice was soft, as if the act of talking was too much of a strain for her. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki. You're Yakumo Kurama, right?"

She frowned at him; not giving him an answer to his own question, she asked, "What are you doing here?" Naruto saw her as a fragile young - she looked to be around his age - girl. Unfortunately, he was blissfully unaware of how close he was to being sent into a nightmare of illusions.

"Ummm, Runa said you were hungry", he said, holding up the bag.

Her eyes brightened a bit, "Master sent you?"

Naruto nodded, before he carefully began walking through the girl's room. It was large…and dark. She had many paintings throughout the walls, the easel in the center suggested that she may have painted them herself. Her queen-sized bed, sat in the corner of the room. Aside from the chair that Yakumo sat in, the bed seemed to be the only piece of furniture in the room. She didn't even seem to have a place to put her clothing, no closet either. "Yea, she said you didn't really get any good food, so she asked me to bring you some." He grabbed a large styrofoam cup from the bag and handed it to her with a set of chop sticks. "Have you ever had ramen?" he asked.

Looking down at the cup in her hands and then back up to the boy, she shrugged. Again, the small act seemed to take a lot out of the girl. "I'm not sure."

Naruto frowned, "You don't remember"

"I've been here for a long time, it's becoming hard to remember some of my life before the time I first came here."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow, "If you don't like it here, why don't you leave?" He asked, grabbing his own cup.

Ignoring him, she peeled off the plastic cap of the cup. Using her chopsticks, she began swirling a few noodles around and lifted them to her mouth. Once again, Naruto looked on curiously, as it seemed even the act of chewing was taking a lot out of this girl. After she finally swallowed the first bite she smiled at him. "It's delicious, thank you."

Naruto grinned back, digging into his own cup. Though he ate with a lot more restraint than he normally did, he still finished a lot quicker than Yakumo did. Wasn't that big of a surprise to him, considering how…weak she looked and acted. Grabbing another cup from the bag, he began eating that one too. By the time he was finished with that one, it seemed she finally finished her first. "Do you want some more?" He asked as he grabbed another cup from the bag and offered it to her.

She shook her head.

The blonde frowned, before putting the cup back in the bag. 'I guess I shouldn't have brought so many', he thought. He then looked up at her. "So, why don't you live in the village with everyone else?"

She frowned, "I asked that question everyday for two years. I finally got my answer a few months ago, nobody wants to live with a cold-blooded monster."

Naruto's eyes widened.

* * *

-x- The Uchiha Complex –x-

It wasn't enough.

The training he was getting from Kakashi just wasn't enough. He was wasting the majority of his time on team exercises and useless missions that served no purpose other than fill his, and the village's, wallets. Since he essentially inherited all the funds of the Uchiha Clan, he really had no need of money, in any form. Making the missions worthless as well. It wasn't enough…

And he couldn't just ask Kakashi to forget about the other two and train him alone…well he could, but he really didn't think that would end well. Not with the man's whole _teammates_ are important, attitude. The biggest problem was that he didn't quite know how far he needed to go…how hard he needed to train. Unfortunately, he didn't have Itachi around to demonstrate how strong he was…which left him without a guide to test his strength. All he knew was that he needed to be strong enough to destroy a ninja Clan by the time he turned fourteen, just like Itachi did.

"How was it even possible for him to massacre your entire clan, by himself?"

Sasuke growled as he began to shake his head violently. He needed to train his body harder. Kakashi's general attitude was also beginning to piss him off. Earlier today, he warned the Uchiha against using his **Sharingan** to copy random techniques he saw being used around Konoha. Kakashi specifically stated that copying the techniques of allies, without permission, was not only morally wrong, it was something that was liable to get his ass kicked, if he did it to the wrong person.

Sasuke tried to argue that there _might_ be a time that having the copied technique could save his ally, and in that respect he should be free to take what he wanted.

Kakashi responded by telling him not to dabble in what ifs and just concentrate on what was certain to happen without a doubt. Getting his ass kicked by an angry Jounin/Chunin. He also mentioned that copying techniques from his teammates would also garner the same results, from Kakashi himself.

Angrily, the Uchiha demanded to know _when_ he should use his **Sharingan**. Calmly, Kakashi simply told him to wait until they confronted an enemy ninja…their techniques were free game. Reluctantly, Sasuke agreed.

So he wouldn't be going around Konoha, spying on random Konoha ninja to gain power. That didn't mean he wouldn't be trying to get a technique from his teammate, _with_ permission. Kakashi didn't specify that he couldn't do that.

He'd start with Naruto and Sakura. Sakura was easy; she'd give him whatever he wanted with little question. Naruto would be a little harder to deal with; unlike Sakura, he was much less likely to give Sasuke the technique he wanted. It was a pity, considering that Naruto's technique list was **much** more impressive than Sakura's was. Naruto had both the **Shadow Clone Technique** and the, slightly less useful, **Phoenix Technique**. He'd obviously start with the **Shadow Clone **and decide where to go from there.

He just needed to find a way to get Naruto to let him copy the technique…without Kakashi coming after him for _stealing_ from his teammates. 'Hmmm…what would Naruto want?' Sasuke asked himself.

* * *

-x- With Naruto –x-

"I'm a disgusting creature, so people saw fit to lock me away."

Naruto frowned, "You don't look like a monster."

Yakumo scoffed in returned. "A monster isn't defined by **what** you are, but **who** you are."

"By who you are?" Naruto asked. If that were true, then he wouldn't have been treated like crap for the majority of his life. Something caught Naruto's attention though. "What do **they** think you are?" By **they** Naruto referred to the majority of Konoha's populace, his personal tormentors. Yakumo took it to mean: the Kurama Clan, Kurenai Yuuhi, and the Third Hokage.

"A monster that killed her own parents", she said quietly.

His eye widened, "What, why?"

"I lost control of my powers", she quietly replied.

"Your powers?" Naruto asked.

She nodded, "You should go."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, "Tell me what happened."

"You wouldn't understand, now leave!" she snapped, before moving towards her bed. She laid down, her back facing Naruto.

Naruto looked down, before looking back at her. He may have _only _known her for the better part of thirty minutes, but he knew he couldn't just let things end on that note. 'No way', he thought sadly. He needed to get the girl to trust him, so that she would open up to him. For that, he was willing to bare a piece of his own soul. "What do you know about the Kyuubi incident, from twelve years back?"

She didn't answer, nor did he really expect her to.

"It was a lie, the Yondaime couldn't destroy the Kyuubi. He sealed it instead-", he noted that she visibly flinched when he said the word 'sealed' but chose not to comment. "-inside of a baby who was just born. That baby…was me. I've been a monster from birth." Naruto looked down at his feet, waiting for some kind of response from her. He waited for a few minutes, what seemed like an eternity to him, before he sighed. "If there is _anyone_ in this damn village who knows what you're going through, it's me." He waited for another moment before he finally decided to leave. He went to pick up the bag, when her voice stopped him.

"That must have been hard on you."

He looked up to see her, sitting up, staring back at him. "When everyone around you thinks you're a monster, yea, it is." He began walking towards her.

"I'm sorry."

Naruto stood at the foot of her bed. "You're not at fault, so don't say your sorry. But what I said was true, if there is anyone in this village who knows what it's like to be a _monster_, it's me. So if you ever want to talk, just ask Runa to send me." He said with his trademark grin.

She pursed her lips, as if in deep thought.

Once again, Naruto turned to leave before a small hand grasped his own. Naruto turned back to look at her.

"I was born with a dark power", she said, not meeting his eyes. She gestured for him to sit, which he did after a moment. How wrong it looked for the two of them to sit like this, together on her bed - in the dark, was not lost on him…remarkably. After a while he managed to ignored those thoughts. "My clan, the Kurama, is known for having an affinity with Genjutsu to the point that some are convinced that we have a bloodlimit, which aligns us to it. I was born with a power that was far greater, far darker than that. The illusions I weaved could actually create effects in the real world. If I make an illusion that someone is burning to death, they would. If I made one where they drown, they would." She looked straight into Naruto's eyes. "I have the power to trap you in a world created by **my** imagination…and you wouldn't even know it."

Naruto gulped at that.

"I wasn't the first to be born with this power. There were a few others that were born with these same abilities…all hailed as prodigies of their eras. I became the star of hope for the Kurama clan. But there was a problem with me."

He looked at her questioningly.

"I was born physically weak. Before the cause of my extreme fatigue was discovered, I was treated like a celebrity", she thought in annoyance. "When my problem was discovered, I fell from grace-'

Naruto's eyes widened, a memory coming to him. _"Not everyone is like that." _His own words echoed in his head.

"_Enough of them are", she quickly responded. "The rest will follow when you make a stupid mistake, that's when you fall from grace." _Fu's response still sounded harsh in his head.

"-and became the clan's pariah", she spat bitterly. "Even still, I wanted to be a ninja. To become the _star of hope_ my clan wanted. But without the ability to do most physical exercises, I couldn't perform Taijutsu. I suppose I could have found a way to learn Ninjutsu, despite the minor physical fatigue it causes, but I decided to place all my hopes in my Genjutsu. My father petitioned the Hokage, to get someone outside of the clan to tutor me in the shinobi-ways. The Hokage agreed."

Naruto would have smiled, but he had a feeling her training didn't end well. After all, he essentially knew the end of the story.

"A few days later, before I met my teacher, I was having an argument with my parents", she began laughing bitterly, tears appeared in her eyes. "More like I was throwing a tantrum like a stupid child. My mother and father _tried_ to convince me that I didn't have to become a ninja. My father was a clan head, and he came right out and said I didn't need to become a shinobi if I didn't want to. He didn't care _how_ my poor physical health affected his public image, all he wanted was my happiness."

Naruto wanted to ask her why her health, or the fact that she _wouldn't_ be a ninja, would reflect badly on her father's image, but chose not to interrupt.

"That's when…when…"

Tears began streaming down her face freely now. She began babbling now, barely making any sense. After a few moments she stopped trying to talk and began whimpering quietly. Eyes wide, Naruto quickly looked around as if the answer to his current dilemma was in any direction but the crying girl. He was **completely** out of his element here and had no clue how to go about comforting the girl. He assumed, correctly so, that this was the point where she _lost_ control of her power, but decided not to comment on that. He remembered how the old man used to put his hand on his shoulder or rubbed his back, whenever he was feeling upset. Opting to do something, he gently placed his hand on her back and began moving it in slow circles.

What he didn't expect was for Yakumo to practically jump into his chest, holding onto him as hard as she could…which wasn't very hard. Surprised, confused, and, once again, completely out of his element, he just calmly wrapped his hands around the girl, patting her back gently.

* * *

-x- Hokage's tower –x-

"Hiruzen."

The pen in the Hokage's hand immediately snapped in half, spilling ink in every direction. And he was having some a nice day to. The old man scoffed, not bothering to respond. He knew she wouldn't quit trying to speak with him, despite his many hopes and desires for her to crawl into a hole somewhere and die.

"The silent treatment then? I thought we were beyond such petty things."

'What do you want?' he snapped, projecting his thoughts outward.

"I told you some time ago about a plot to destroy Konoha."

Hiruzen was all ears at this point. Sure, he had faith in the village's ability to defend itself. And sure, he hated Kreia with a fiery passion that hasn't been abated since the moment she left Konoha: eight years, two hundred and sixty-five days, three hours, twenty-two minutes, and forty-nine seconds back - but who's counting. 'Fifty-one seconds', he thought bitterly. Despite those two facts, he wouldn't turn away any information that could be used to protect Konoha in a time of possible war. He was confident and bitter, not stupid.

"_It's Orochimaru."_

Hiruzen growled.

"_What do you know about this new Sound Village that has risen up?"_

The man frowned, 'Not much.'

"_Well your former student happens to be both the founder and the current leader."_

Hiruzen frowned. He heard some time ago that Orochimaru joined a group of missing-nins, whose name he never found out. About four years back, he found out Orochimaru deserted the group as well. Since then, the man had found a way to stay under the radar, despite all of Jiraiya's methods to try and track him down. 'Is Orochimaru really responsible for this new village? He always did want to become Hokage, perhaps this is his way of getting what was denied to him in Konoha', he thought to himself.

"_He's not working alone either, he's manipulating another village to work with him."_

'Which one?' he asked.

"_I couldn't say, not yet."_

Hiruzen scowled at her response. Whenever Kreia said, _she couldn't say_, she of course meant that she _wouldn't say_. 'And when will you be able to tell me.'

"_I'm not sure, but know that Orochimaru is planning to strike sometime during the Chunin Exams. I believe they're being held in Konoha this year, correct?"_

Hiruzen nodded absentmindedly. He didn't like what he was hearing. But he pushed that to the back of his mind. 'Tell me, what have you been teaching young Naruto?' He supposed he could ask/command Naruto to come show him everything he was being taught, but decided against it some time ago. He truly had no idea how Kreia would respond to that and he truly didn't feel like making her snap before he was finally ready to strike back at her. He also decided against having his own shinobi actively spy on the boy. Not only could that cause unnecessary stigma against the boy, which he didn't want to happen, but unless the spy could somehow hear what Kreia was teaching the boy, it would appear that Naruto was just training by himself. That didn't stop him form being curious though.

"_About that, I suggest you have people believe that he has been learning techniques left behind by his mother. Most people still believe her to be dead, correct?"_

Hiruzen scowled at the indirect jab.

* * *

-x- Yakumo's house –x-

"I was found outside, in a daze, so I'm told. When the fire was put out, they found both my parents…bodies. It was reported an accident." Yakumo continued her story from Naruto's chest. "They were both _Jounins_ I thought to myself. How could they die from an accidental fire! Later, after I met my new sensei, I found her talking to the Hokage. From what they said…it sounded like they wanted to destroy my clan…like they were responsible for the deaths of my parents."

Naruto frowned, 'That can't be right. The Hokage wouldn't do something like that.'

"My thoughts were reinforced later, when my _sensei-_", she spat the word out. "-decided I was a lost cause. I told her that I'd continue my training, on my own if need be. In response, she decided to seal my ability to use chakra and by extension my Genjutsu abilities up."

The blonde scowled at that. If her sensei didn't have faith in her ability to learn, well fine. But that didn't mean she had the right to seal away her power.

"I tried to get my uncle, the new Head of my Clan, to remove the seal from my body, but he wouldn't. A few days later, I was taken here. Under constant guard by medic-nins and ANBU."

Naruto's eyes widened, "Where are they now?"

He felt the girl stiffen in his arms, "Umm…sleeping."

He frowned. He knew she was lying. Hell, she probably knew that he knew she was lying. It wasn't a convincing lie, but, once again, he chose to remain silent. If necessary, he'd take some punishment…later. He stayed quiet, silently telling her to continue her story.

After a few moments she did. "I spent the next two years hating my sensei for what she did to me. I hated the Hokage, for ordering her actions…and ordering the death of my parents. I hated my clan, for allowing everything to happen. I **wanted** to see them all **burn**." Her fists clenched tightly around his body. If she weren't so weak, she'd probably be hurting him with how hard she was trying to squeeze. "But I was wrong", she finally said. "A few months ago…Master came and took me away for a from here. She told me the truth. There was something inside of me."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"A monster that took control of me and used _my_ power to kill my parents."

The blonde frowned. "Then it's not your fault. If it was a monster that killed you parents, then you CAN'T be at fault."

For the first time in a while, she looked up at him, letting him see her tear-stained face. Her eyes were red and puffy from tears. "Your monster", she began, catching a flinch from the boy, "Is a separate entity. Mine is a part of my mind, something that was created subconsciously with the power I was _born_ with."

"But it wasn't you who killed them", he said it again.

"It was a part of me!" she snapped back. "It was born inside of my head!"

"You're controlling it now, aren't you?"

She shook her head. "With Master's help, I destroyed it."

Naruto smiled at that, "Master Runa is awesome like that."

She lowered her head again, "She saved me. She told me the truth. She unsealed my powers and began teaching me to control it. I don't know what for though…I'll **never** fight for this village!" she spat.

The blonde frowned. "Do you still hate the Hokage?"

She frowned. "In _his _case, hate is a strong word. I'm angry with him for hiding the truth from me."

Naruto thought back to something Runa said to him long ago. _"I do disrespect many of his methods, mostly his methods in dealing with children." _She later went on to say, _"He has a firm belief that children need to remain __**innocent**__ and __**pure**__"- "a concept that doesn't work for people in situations like yours."_

Naruto frowned. He realized that the Hokage may know how to deal with children, but he certainly didn't know how to deal with ones in situations like his. 'He knows how to do deal with people like them, not people like us', he thought to himself.

"-there are more of **them**, than there are of **us**." Fu's words echoed in his head. Not for there exact meaning, but for what they represented. Segregation.

'Them', he thought about some of the normal people in Konoha. 'And us', he thought of Fu, Yakumo, and himself. He thought of Haku.

"I hate my sensei, though. And I hate my clan."

Her sensei he could understand, that was just messed up what she did. But the fact that she hated her Clan made the blonde frown, "Aren't they your family?"

She began laughing bitterly, once again hiding her face in his chest. He silently suspected that she was trying to prevent him from seeing her cry anymore…a fact that he thought was unnecessary, but decided to let it go. "In all the time I've been here, want to know how many of my cousins came to visit me. I'll give you a hint, I can count them all on one hand…with five fingers left over."

That statement made him frown further. 'No one came to visit her?'

"_Even with the people I once considered friends, I was always alone."_ Another statement from Fu came back to him.

"You were alone?" he asked. Realization dawning on him.

She nodded her head.

"_It was only a matter of time."_

* * *

-x- With Jiraiya –x-

"Stop giving me that look", Kushina finally snapped. After Kushina physically abused the target for information, both her's and Jiraiya's, they left him there, unconscious, and left the establishment. After changing into something more dignified, she met Jiraiya at the other end of tower, in a small restaurant. The two had agreed to a quick meal together to catch up, but Jiraiya seemed to be giving her the stink-eye the whole time. She gave the man a sad look. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry that I faked my death." She looked down at her cup of green tea, refusing to meet his eyes. "I needed to get out of Konoha, immediately. I _really_ wanted to tell you the truth, but Hiruzen told me he'd only help me if I severed my ties with _everyone_ I knew."

"You wanted to get out, so you decided sever your ties with **everyone**, huh**?** I suppose that includes your own child", Jiraiya snapped irritably.

Kushina gave Jiraiya confused look, "My child? I didn't leave Kasumi, I took her with me."

This time, it was Jiraiya's turn to give the woman a confused look, "Kasumi?"

Misinterpreting Jiraiya's confusion, Kushina nodded, "Yea, don't you remember? If we had a girl, we were going to name her Kasumi, after the female heroine in your book, _The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja._"

"And when you had a boy you were going to name him Naruto."

"_If_ we had a boy", Kushina corrected, still giving him an odd look. "But we had a girl, so I went with Kasumi."

Jiraiya's eyes were wide, 'Girl? Didn't you…' "Wait a second, weren't you suppose to have a boy?" _Suppose_ to nothing, they _did_ have a boy. He checked up on Naruto various times and, unless both him and Sarutobi were hiding something, he knew for a fact that Naruto was a boy…a boy named "Naruto", not "Kasumi". And Kushina sure as hell didn't take Naruto with her; he was still in Konoha suffering the burden that his father left him with.

Kushina gave him another odd look, before going into thinking pose. "Now that you mention it, the last sonogram I had did suggest it was a boy, didn't it?" After thinking it over for a few moments, she shrugged as she drank some of her tea, "I've forgotten completely about that. Maybe _it_ was just a shadow."

Jiraiya looked at her in confusion, a puzzle appearing in his mind's eye, "You took your…daughter…with you?"

"MmHm", she confirmed. "What else would I do, leave her in Konoha?" She asked, as if the very thought was ridiculous. "I wasn't going to leave the village and just leave my baby alone, what kind of mother do you take me for?"

Jiraiya looked down in deep thought, though he tried to keep his poker face up, confusion was beginning to creep over his features. He wasn't around during the Kyuubi attack. When he heard the Kyuubi reappeared, and it's intended course was Konoha, he traveled as fast as he could to reach the village. When he finally reached the village, a few days _after_ the attack, he was told two things: both Minato and Kushina were dead, and Minato sealed the beast in his own _son_, Naruto. 'Was sensei lying about Naruto being _his_ son?' that would solve the little conundrum. He allowed Kushina to walk with her newborn daughter, Minato's child. Then Naruto, the boy Minato chose, would play the role of the Kyuubi container and his _son_. A way to allow Kushina and Kasumi to live in peace, perhaps?

Jiraiya resisted the urge to shake his head. 'No, Minato wouldn't do that; he wouldn't damn another child to the life of a Demon container, not when he had a child himself. Maybe the girl was born too early or late to be used as the container? He looked up at the woman, who seemed to be busy in her own thoughts. She was, once again, looking down at her green tea. "When was she born?"

She looked up at him. "Kasumi? October tenth, why?"

"Curiosity", he replied. 'She was born the _same_ freaking day! If Kushina was in labor, or was getting ready to go into labor, they could have easily induced the birth. No harm no foul for a doctor trained under Tsunade's methods', he thought to himself. 'And Naruto, he looks way too much like Minato. Could that be a coincidence?'

"You want to see her?" Kushina asked.

Jiraiya smiled at her, "Actually, yea. Do you have any pictures?"

She smiled back. "Yes, but I was actually thinking I'd let you meet her though. You _are_ still her godfather, despite my brother's wishes for me to name a new one." She said as she began fishing for something in one of her pockets.

"Now that you mention it, where are you two holed up?"

"A village in Whirlpool Country." She paused for a moment, looking up at Jiraiya. "You remember, about a year before Kasumi was born, I got that message from my brother?"

Jiraiya nodded. Did he ever. Her brother, and a few other close relations of her, started bringing together people from Whirlpool to try and recreate the old Hidden Village. Apparently, they wanted Kushina to come join them. In passing, she happened to mention it to Minato. Unfortunately for the young Kage, she failed to mention that she had already sent her reply, a decline, to her brother the day afterwards. He tortured himself for the next two weeks, _wondering_ what she would decide to do and _when_ she would finally make her decision. At some points Jiraiya swore Minato's head was going to explode.

She finally found what she was looking for, and pulled out a small black wallet. "Don't get any ideas, you're still paying for dinner", she said, almost daring him to complain. "Anyway, even though I declined his original offer, he told me the offer stood if I ever changed my mind. After…Minato died", she began softly, thinking of her poor dead husband, "I decided to take Kasumi and go. I thought it would be best for her to be around family."

Jiraiya frowned. He knew the woman didn't mean anything by it, but still it kind of hurt.

She showed him a picture that was in her wallet. "This is actually the only picture I have, she's obviously much older now."

The picture showed Kushina holding a young girl, maybe eight years old, from behind. There was definitely a strong resemblance between the two of them, suggesting a strong familial relationship. Their hair was even the same shade of red and they both had purple eyes, a rare eye color. He narrowed his eyes, 'Ok…so I got a kid who looks like Minato in Konoha and Kushina has a girl that looks like her. So what the fuck does that all mean' he thought to himself. 'Twins maybe? No, that DEFINITELY would have shown up on the sonogram. Either Minato was screwing around behind Kushina's back, or one of them is fake', Jiraiya concluded bitterly. Something stunk about the whole situation, really bad. After he dealt with a few more loose ends, he'd have to talk it over with Sarutobi.

"So do you want to meet her?"

Jiraiya smiled, "As much as I'd love to, I'll have to take a rain check. I'm afraid I'm going the other way", he stated, cursing that little fact. As much as he would love to ditch his job for a few weeks, his current mission was a little time sensitive.

Pity as it was. He'd have to meet _both_ children face to face to learn the truth. He was starting to get the feeling that he had been lied to…

…and Jiraiya HATED being lied to.

* * *

-x- The next day –x-

Like normal, the members of team seven were waiting at the bridge for their teacher to show up.

And like normal, he arrived three hours late in a plum of smoke, "YO!"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Both Naruto and Sakura yelled.

Kakashi only smiled, "Sorry, I was helping a little old lady cross the street."

"LIAR!" both of them yelled again, though it was Sakura who continued the tirade, "For once, how about you tell us the REAL reason you're late! Huh Sensei!"

Kakashi shrugged, "Ok…I was having premarital sex last night with a woman I just met three hours prior. I was late because she didn't want to leave my house at eight o'clock in the morning."

That got everyone to shut up. Naruto and Sasuke were staring wide-eyed at him, while Sakura was blushing and looking like someone just slapped her.

"So anyway, I nominated you three for the Chunin exams." He produced three pieces of paper from his pouch. "Just fill out these forms if you decide to take part. Then meet in room 301 in four days, we won't have anymore team meetings until then. No pressure." Seeing that his team was still frozen in shock, he decided to leave the forms on the ground.

They were still frozen when he disappeared in another puff of smoke.

They stayed like that for several moments. Sasuke, surprisingly, was the first one to get out of his daze. He walked over to the forms, picked them up, before walking over to his teammates. He handed the first one to Sakura.

Still in a daze, the young girl walked off by herself, still blushing the whole way.

The Uchiha then handed the form to Naruto, who by that time recovered from Kakashi's statement. Naruto turned to leave…mostly happy by this turn of events. He was beginning to get annoyed with all the team exercises. He understood the importance behind those exercises, but he really wanted to get in some private training. Now he had three days to move forward in his training before going to the Chunin Exam, he had no doubt he would participate.

"Naruto!"

The blonde frowned before turning towards the Uchiha, with a questioningly look on his face. "Yea?" he said with a little annoyance in his voice.

For a moment, Sasuke seemed to look at the blonde with a little pain in his face before he shook his head. "I want to offer a trade."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow, "A trade? What kind of trade?" What did _he_ have that Sasuke could possibly want?

"One of my Ninjutsu for one of yours."

That got Naruto interested. "Really?" He saw Sasuke nod, another look of pain in his eyes. It was obvious he didn't want to give anything up. That probably meant whatever he had was good. "What do you want, and what are you going to give me for it?"

He looked up, "Your **Shadow Clone technique**, for one of my fire techniques."

Naruto's eyes widened. He could give Sasuke his Shadow Clone Technique, which was a pretty badass jutsu, and Sasuke would give him a Fire Technique? Didn't sound like a bad deal, per say. "Which fire technique."

He held out two scrolls, "I copied them both from one of my Clan scrolls. The first is the **Grand Fireball Technique** and the other is the **Phoenix Flower Technique**."

By name he was quickly drawn to the latter Ninjutsu, but stopped when he realized he didn't know a thing about it. "What's the second one do?"

"Let's you breath out many small balls of fire. You've already seen me use the first one plenty of times."

Naruto nodded, the former Ninjutsu created one large fireball. 'So, one large fireball or many little ones? Hmmm…' Naruto thought to himself, deliberating between them. "Give me the **Phoenix Flower Technique**."

Sasuke nodded and tossed him one of the scrolls, which Naruto caught.

"Ok, I guess I should write down how to do the technique in a scroll?"

"Don't bother, just use it right now."

Naruto looked at Sasuke oddly, noting that he activated his bloodlimit. Shrugging, Naruto put his hands in a cross seal. **"Shadow Clone Technique**", he called out. Three clones materialized around him.

Sasuke nodded, deactivating his **Sharingan**. He gave the blonde a small wave and turned to walk the other way.

Dispelling the clones, Naruto frowned at Sasuke, 'Did he really learn it already?' It was at that point that he remembered Kakashi telling him about the _copying_ powers of the **Sharingan**. Naruto frowned at that, "Well that's really cheap", he said to no one in particular.

* * *

-x-

When he got home Sasuke scowled. Creating a dozen clones nearly depleted his reserves. 'How the hell does _he_ create hundreds at a time without dropping over from exhaustion?' he thought with a scowl.

Along with the water technique Kakashi gave to him, he would have to work on this one to. Perhaps find an effective strategy to use it in. But Sasuke didn't let that deter him. This was actually a good thing. He just needed to increase his own reserves to something that would let him use the **Shadow Clone Technique** effectively. He probably wouldn't use it often, definitely not to the extent that Naruto seemed to use it, but it wouldn't hurt to have another _person_ hurling Ninjutsu. It also gave him a measuring stick to test his abilities, something that he was sorely lacking in.

'Alright…'

* * *

-x- Four days later –x-

The following few days came and went for the three members of team 7. They each spent the four days their own way and eventually all found themselves in front of the Academy the day of the exam. After a small altercation with a couple of strange, older ninja on the second floor and a battle between Sasuke and a Genin named Rock Lee, the three found themselves in the room of the First Exam.

There classmates, the members of Team 8 and 10 were also there, seemed they got nominated as well. But Naruto didn't pay any attention to them. He was busy scanning the crowds, meeting eyes with some of the other Genins, whom were sizing up his own group.

Something Runa told him about psychological warfare came back to him. She always said that, if he was sure that fighting someone was inevitable, it was always a good idea to anger your opponent. Naruto smirked. He, only partially correctly, guessed that an actual fight was unavoidable.

It didn't help that he _somewhat_ misinterpreted Runa's words. She of course meant to anger your opponent _during_ the fight, so they were blinded by their own rage. Not piss them off, but give them a chance to cool off and place your name/face on their shit list_._ All these factors led to what Naruto would do next…

"HEY!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, getting **everyone's** attention. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki!" He pumped both of his fists horizontally outwards, fingers facing upwards. "And each and every single one of you can-" He then raised his middle finger, _both_ of them. "-go fuck yourselves!"

Obviously, that didn't go over to well.

**

* * *

A/N: Re-reading this chapter several times, I can honestly say that I'm satisfied with how it came out. However, I can definitely see how some people may have an issue with a few things that happened.**

**Yakumo's willingness to open up to Naruto seems a little fast, even to me. I figure a girl like that (12-13 years old) alone for two years, with nothing but a few doctors, and silent overseers (ANBU) looking after her, would be keeping a lot of stuff on the inside. The only person she **_**may**_** have talked to was Kreia, but let's face it, Kreia isn't the emotional/group hug/therapy type of person. The fact that she releases her emotions on Naruto, the only human contact she's had that generally wants to get to know her, isn't too farfetched in my mind. Add to the fact Naruto's own past, which he summarized, and his own dark secrets…and she has someone who can more or less understand what she's going through. **

**Another thing that may bug some people is how Kushina didn't press Jiraiya on his odd questions/comments. She didn't even seem to care. Well, I didn't write about what she was thinking during that time. Simple as that.**

**With that said, I'll leave you with another comparison.**

**

* * *

Naruto: The Apprentice - Ninja Data Book: Kreia's three (known) Apprentices**

**1. Name: **Naruto Uzumaki

**Age: **12

**Affiliation: **Konoha, Kreia

**Taijutsu: **D-ranked

**Genjutsu: **E-ranked

**Ninjutsu: **C-ranked

**Special Ability: **Knowledge of Gravity techniques

**Jinchuuriki Ability:** Standard abilities of a demon container include: increased chakra reserves, and constitution. The Kyuubi in Naruto increases these attributes further.

**2. Name: **Fu (last name unknown)

**Age: **13

**Affiliation: **Kreia

**Taijutsu: **C-ranked

**Genjutsu: **D-ranked

**Ninjutsu: **C-ranked

**Special Ability: **No information released

**Jinchuuriki Ability: **Standard abilities of a demon container include: increased chakra reserves, and constitution. The Nanabi in Fu increases her physical strength to the point where she's about three times stronger than normal girls' her height, weight, and body type. She also possesses the ability to secrete a strange nectar from…her body.

**3. Name: **Yakumo Kurama

**Age: **13

**Affiliation: **Kreia

**Taijusu: **N/A

**Genjutsu: **A-ranked

**Ninjutsu: **E-ranked

**Special Notes:** A certain Birth defect left her body incredibly weak, which prevents her from doing any form of Taijutsu.

**Special Abilities: **Skilled painter. Ability to use paintings as a medium for Genjutsu. Her Genjutsu can even affect those with a Dojutsu (eye technique) such as the **Sharingan** or the **Byakkugan**.

**Bloodline: **Affinity towards Genjutsu. Born with an innate Affinity towards Genjutsu, which surpasses that of the rest of her Clan.

* * *

**Anyway, please review.**


	6. Earth, Storm, and Fire

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kotor 2, or WoW. For those of you who don't know what those acronyms means…that's Knights of the Old Republic 2 and World of Warcaft (the last time I'll mention what they mean in a disclaimer).**

**A/N: I hate the Second exams…hence why it took me so long to get this chapter out. Unfortunately, I couldn't just summarize the damn thing like I did for the Wave Arc. So I took my time instead, hoping to produce something of quality…instead of utter crap. Hope I did well.**

**Oh…and those of you who are familiar with the Warcraft 3 hero, Pandaren Brewmaster…and there Ultimate Ability will quickly know where I got the title for this chapter from. Hope I added some personality to the Ability. Let me know how I did in a review.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Earth, Storm, and Fire!**

The first part of the Chunin Exams went by at an extremely slow pace. After coming to the crushing, at that instant, realization that he didn't have an effective way to spy on people, he placed all of his hopes on the final question. Though foolish, in hindsight, his gambit proved to work out in the end.

After Ibiki, the man who was issuing the first exam, revealed the true nature of the tenth question the second examinee entered the room. Anko Mitarashi took the remaining examinees, the ones who didn't fail the exam, to the testing ground of the second exam.

Apparently, the second exam would be held in Training Ground 44: nicknamed the Forest of Death. After leading the group there, she explained that the second part would be held the following morning. Other than that, the only thing she mentioned was that they would be spending the next five days in the forest, so they should pack accordingly. They were supposed to meet back at the entrance of Training Ground 44 on that morning; else risk failing the exam.

After the group dispersed, Naruto took off in a different direction from his teammates, planning to get at least an hour of physical exercise in. He already tried, and failed, to exercise his brain. He finished his physical exercise an hour after he began and prepared to go home, and to bed, when…

* * *

"_Apprentice."_

Naruto looked up, at no one in particular. "Master?"

"_I want to meet with you?"_

He raised an eyebrow at that, "You mean face to face?"

"_Yes, I'm in Konoha, I want you to come to me."_

With more than a little excitement, Naruto left his home and went to go meet with his sensei. He found her quickly enough, like usual, he just followed her precise directions. She sat on top of a stump, wearing a plain tan cloak. To her left was a… 'Bear?' Naruto wondered oddly. He stared at the creature oddly for a moment.

He wore black robes, which looked like they were made for a monk. A large straw hat covered his head. His furry head. He was a large bear, who was standing on two legs. His face was mostly white, with a black nose, and black rings around his eyes. His arms, the parts that were visible, were black. He had, what looked like, a large barrel on his back. He also possessed a long staff, made of bamboo, in his right hand.

"Naruto, it's good to see you again", Runa greeted.

The blonde smiled, "It's nice seeing you to." He decided to put the question, of the strange bear, in the back of his mind for now. Runa would most likely explain it when she felt ready to, like most things. There was something he decided to ask though, "Fu, didn't come with you."

Runa grinned at his statement, and the possible implications, but decided to let it go for now. "Unfortunately, Fu couldn't come with me."

"Oh?" he said not _too_ upset over the manner. "Will you be staying long? Maybe I can give you a tour around the village, you haven't been in the village in a while, right?"

Runa shook her head in response, "I'm sorry Naruto, but I'm afraid I can't stay. I came here to give you something, but I'm afraid I can't stay afterwards."

"Oh…" this time he was upset.

"Enough of that", she said, snapping at his pout. "Let's begin your training. You obviously seemed curious about my companion. Let me introduce you to Mojo of the Pandaren." Mojo, the bear, gave Naruto a short nod. "He's been a constant companion of mine for some time, and is essentially a representative of his tribe."

"Ummm, Hi?" Naruto waved, feeling somewhat stupid. 'Was that a stupid greeting?'

In response, Mojo waved his free hand. "Tell me Naruto, what do you know about summoning contracts?" Runa asked.

The blonde's face scrunched up, thinking long and hard. "Iruka-sensei said that a ninja can form contracts with certain animals. They can then summon those animals to fight for them."

"Crude, but correct", Kreia replied. "I want to offer you a contract Naruto, one with Mojo's tribe. I want you to sign the Panda Contract. Will you sign it?"

'Will I? Hell yea!' Naruto wanted to yell out in reply. However, he chose to wait for a moment. "If I get a choice, does that mean there's a downside to signing a contract."

"An astute question. Indirectly, yes there are a few downsides. Contracts are rare, and are usually jealously guard. Most Summoners tend to be well known, unless they take steps to hide their presence like I have. If you flaunt it around, you'll become a target for those who hope to steal your contract."

Naruto gulped at that.

"Then again, you're already a target, aren't you. Other than that slight issue, there is one more inconvenience. Most summoning clans, the Pandaren included, don't allow one of their summoners to have more than one contract. If you sign the Panda Contract, you will be unable to sign a contract with another clan without first annulling your contract with the Pandas."

Naruto nodded, that didn't seem like such an inconvenience. Should he hold off on getting a summoning contract, on the off chance that he may have the opportunity to get another one, possibly a better one, in the future? It seemed like a simple enough solution. If that actually happened in the future he could always go through the trouble of canceling his contract with the Pandas. "All right, I'll do it."

"Good", she said. She turned to Mojo, who put the keg down and began reaching into the sleeve of his long black robe. A moment later he pulled out a scroll, and tossed it to Naruto.

The boy grabbed it, mid-air, and began to unroll it. "Use one of you canines to bite your thumb, hard enough to pierce the skin and draw blood." Frowning, Naruto did as commanded and bit his own thumb, flinching only slightly as he broke the skin. Ignoring the slight discomfort, he turned back to the old woman. "Good, now I want you to sign your name on the contract, with your own blood."

Naruto nodded and looked down on the contract. He quickly looked for Runa's own name, but frowned when he didn't find it. There were only five names on the list, the last one being someone named 'Kreia Yamanaka', or at least he thought that's what it said; her signature wasn't very easy to read. He went to sign his own right under Kreia's, "Master Runa, didn't you sign the contract?"

"A long time ago, yes", was her reply. She instantly knew why he was asking, "I doubt you'd know my name, even if you did happen to see it, my signature simply isn't very legible." It wasn't a lie, just a half-truth.

"Na-ru-to U-zu-ma-ki!" He finished signing. He then stuck his thumb in his mouth, sucking on the wound. "Now what?" Seeing Mojo walking towards him, he quickly rolled up the scroll and handed it to the large…bear. Mojo took it before hiding it and moving to go stand next to Runa again.

"Now I want you to go over to the seal", she gestured towards her right. Naruto's eyes followed the direction she motioned. There was a large and intricate seal written on the ground in dark black ink. "You still lack the control to perform a correct summoning so we'll be using the Fox's chakra to amplify technique. Go stand on the seal and I'll walk you through the steps."

Naruto nodded and went to the center of the large seal. He guessed the seal was used to prevent other people from sensing the Fox's chakra, which was much more potent and easier to sense than human chakra. She used the same methods to learn how to create _the pulse_, which he had to learn to use the **Heavenly Techniques**. When he reached the center, he just stood there, eyes closed.

"_Boar"_ she was talking to him through her telepathy_ "Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram. These are the hand seals required for the __**Summoning Technique**__. Now place your hands in the sign of the Boar."_

Naruto did as he was told and both hands into the Boar seal.

"_I never told you the principle behind 'the pulse', mostly because I didn't feel it was completely necessary at the time. But now I feel it may be necessary to your own survival."_

The blonde looked at her curiously.

"_Understand this Naruto, the Fox is an entity with it's own mind. If you choose to use it's chakra, it's highly likely that the its mind will try to possess your body during the connection. And as you know, the Fox's personality is very malevolent. If the Fox takes control of you, its darker emotions will overtake you, causing you to go berserk. If this happens, it's highly likely you'll go berserk, attacking anyone around you, friend or foe. I believe you've already experienced this feeling, back in Wave Country."_

Naruto nodded dumbly. He remembered it very well. Though he didn't attack any of his friends, he definitely did go over an edge that he wished he hadn't gone over. The memories and emotions he experienced tat day were still in his head. The murderous intent. The pure unadulterated hatred. The rage…

"_If you are truly to become strong, you will need to learn to overcome the fox's prescence. Learn how to use the Fox's chakra without letting it corrupt you. But the training you need for this will take time. Until then you need a way to use the Fox's chakra without letting it's mind consume yours…this is the purpose of 'the pulse'. You quickly release a sliver of the Fox's chakra before quickly cutting off your connection to it. This way, you get a small 'pulse' of his chakra without worrying about the Fox's chakra overtaking you."_

Naruto gave her a questioning look, "Am I using _the pulse_ to use the **Summoning Technique** also?"

"_Partially. What I'm going to teach you this time, you may consider the next step up from 'the pulse'. You will make a connection to the Fox, use it's chakra for a Ninjutsu, in this case the__** Summoning Technique**__, and then cut off your connection with it. And remember Naruto, the longer you keep your connection with the Fox, the higher your chances of it possessing you." _Runa stopped at that point, obviously letting the information sink in. _"Now, are you ready?"_

Naruto looked at the woman for a moment, "May a few questions?" Upon seeing the old woman nod, Naruto continued, "How long do I have…you know before the Kyuubi possesses me?"

"_I can't give you a clear answer to that. Though I've seen many Demon Containers in the past, I've only trained two: you and Fu. I did train Fu in this ability a month ago. In her case, it took her exactly three seconds to begin showing signs of her Bijuu's personality leaking through. However, keep in mind the different factors involved: The Fox is much stronger than the Beetle inside Fu, but your seal is much stronger than Fu's, then again Fu is __much__ more mentally disciplined, etc. I imagine all the containers are different in this regard."_

Naruto nodded, taking a little offense to being called undisciplined. "So, I shouldn't count on using the technique for more than a few seconds?" Glancing at the woman, he saw Runa nod. "Are you going to teach me how to use the Kyuubi without being possessed?"

Once again, the woman nodded, _"In time, you will learn how to do it yourself. When you summoned the power on the bridge, you only got a small taste of what the Fox could do to you, and what it could do for you. It didn't seem to affect you as much as it could have."_ Naruto flinched at that_. "As you grow, you'll be able to absorb more of it's chakra and still retain your own mind. Like all things, you simply have to train. Now, I ask again, are you prepared."_

The blonde nodded, a look of determination in his eyes. "I'm ready."

* * *

-x- Wave Country –x-

After finishing all her exercises for the day, Fu decided to spend the rest of the night lazing around the large house that Runa left her in. She always cherished the days she could take a few hours to just relax, despite her love of training. She never got the opportunity to do that in Takigakure. Since the moment she could walk, she was forced into a tight and strict schedule, which mostly consisted of training for well over half the day. She would get some time to spend with some _friends_, an obvious attempt to get her to form bonds with people of the village. Thinking it over, she actually realized she never got a choice in the matter.

Regardless, when she came to live with her Master, she wasn't forced to train as long as she did back home. Considering that little detail, she always found the fact that her growth increased exponentially under Runa more than a little amusing. Quality over Quantity she supposed. There was definitely a reason that Taki wasn't among the Great Five Villages.

She was currently laying on a couch in Runa's living room, enjoying the peace that came with having the place to herself. Not that she ever minded her Master's presence, in fact quite the opposite. Then again her Master had been rather aggravating as of late. Some time ago, Fu accidentally let slip, to her Master, the _incident_ between both Naruto and her.

She let it slip that Naruto had asked to taste her nectar.

And in a straight face, Runa asked, _"And did you let him?"_

After going into another spout of indiscernible sputtering, she stormed out of the room, the first time she ever _dared_ to walk out on her Master. The moment she left the room, she heard a loud, boisterous laughter fill the halls, which did nothing to help the blush that was forming on her cheeks. After that incident, she _swore_ she could feel Runa giving her amused looks whenever her back was turned.

She sighed as she reached for some scrolls that Runa left behind for her. Though she long since opted to end her training for the night, she still wanted to study the things her Master wanted her to learn. Some kind of specialized training that her Master had her do, one's which purpose she could only partially guess.

The girl shrugged, as she unrolled the first scroll and began reading it.

* * *

-x- Konoha –x-

"**Summoning Technique!**" When Naruto's hands reached the ground an explosion of smoke enveloped him. A moment later, he heard three distinct figures land on the ground around him.

"EARTH!" a deep voice said as something heavy slammed into the ground.

"Storm!" this voice was much more suave, a crack of thunder rang through the air.

"AND FIRRREEEEEEEEEEE!" a shrill voice screeched out, stressing the last two letters in _fire_. The sound of metal clanging against metal was heard.

Naruto blinked at what he just saw before him. There were three more Pandarens surrounding him, all dressed differently.

The first one he noticed was also the one who first spoke. He was large, as tall as Mojo, but looked a little more muscular. His robes were similar to Mojo's but his were brown, with a silver lining. In his hands was a large hammer, which was most likely the heavy object that slammed into the ground. The 'handle' was a large five-foot metal staff. The hammer-part was equally as massive, and looked to be made of stone.

The second figure, the one who said _lightning_, wore blue robes, with silver lining. He was a few inches short than Mojo. He didn't have any noticeable weapons, though Naruto did see his hands crackle with electricity.

The final figure wore red robes, with gold lining. He was also a few inches shorter than Mojo, about the same height as the Panda in blue. In his hands, he held a pair of dao swords, with flame-like engravings on the blades.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Wait? Earth, Storm, and Fire? Isn't it Earth, Wind, and Fire?" Not that Naruto had any knowledge of the R&B band, seeing as they didn't exist in his world. In fact, he didn't even know why he mentioned it…just felt right he supposed.

The Pandaren in brown placed his hand/paw on Naruto's shoulder, "Well, the guy before stormy their", he gestured towards the bear in blue, "_was_ nicknamed Wind, but we had to get rid of him. He was always pissing Fire and me off."

"Annoying bastard", 'Fire', the Panda in red, agreed.

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Wait…so your names are", he pointed towards the Panda in brown, "Earth", he switched to the one in blue, "Storm", then finally the Panda in red, "and Fire?" He mostly guessed the first one, based on what he called the other two.

His guess proved fruitful though; all three of them nodded. Naruto stared at them, confusion written all over his face.

* * *

"Hmm", Runa began with a frown. "I was positive that that was enough chakra to summon the _Boss_. Mojo, did I miscalculate?"

Mojo shrugged. "My father, the former Shodo-pan (leader) of the Pandaren, _was_ always complaining about the foolishness of new summoners. I remembered him mentioning that he wanted to prevent the new ones from summoning him, perhaps he altered the contract while I was away. That would explain why Naruto couldn't summon my brother, the _current_ Shodo-pan."

Runa frowned at this turn of events. She watched the young boy interact with the three Pandaren warriors before hiding her facial features. "I think they will suffice, do they always fight together?"

"Back when I was in Pandaria, my clan's home land, I remembered Earth teaming up with a female geomancer who went by the name, _Water_. Fire and Storm are new, so is that Wind-guy that Earth mentioned."

"So they use monikers based on the five elements?"

Mojo nodded, "Earth's idea. Doesn't look like he got a _full_ team together though. One ale mug up and two mugs down, as they say", he shrugged before turning to Runa, ignoring her slight scowl. Mojo's analogy wasn't _exactly_ what they say. "Perhaps you should summon my brother, he'll answer _your_ call."

Runa appeared to contemplate the thought for several moments before asking, "Are they competent?"

"Earth is. Unfortunately, he's the only one I know" Mojo replied.

"I think they'll be sufficient. I'll leave Naruto in their hands", she commented as she watched Storm ruffle Naruto's messy hair.

* * *

"So, you guys are a team of Pandas?"

"That's correct. Besides the Shodo-pan, our leader, we are the greatest warriors in all of Pandaria", Earth commented.

"And don't let the War Dancers tell you any different", Fire said with a slight scowl. "We, are the best!" he continued, gesturing to the three of them.

"So boss - may I call you boss?" Storm asked.

"Umm…"

"So boss" he continued without waiting for a reply, "Tell us, how can the three of us single handedly solve all of your problems?"

Naruto blinked. "My problems?"

"Samurai coming after you?" Earth began.

Fire raised one of his swords, "Ninja on your tail?"

"Spent a weekend having craaaazy sex with a girl, only to find out she was married to an influential yakuza boss who is now sending bounty hunters after your head?" Storm finished.

The blonde raised an eyebrow, blushing somewhat, "What?"

"Well, we are your Pandas", all three said at the same time, obviously ignoring the blonde's question.

"We kill for you", this time Fire began.

"We protect you", Storm continued.

"We lurk, we stalk, we torture, we exorcise, we slay…" Earth began listing.

"Hell", Storm began, "Sometimes we fly fifty-feet through the air only to land in a giant pool filled with chocolate pudding."

Naruto looked up at that, "Wait, what?"

Fire snapped his head towards Storm, completely ignoring Naruto's question, "Which we are to **never** discuss?"

"That was really an isolated incident…I doubt it will ever happen again", Earth commented on what was known, between the three, as _that one time, at Band Camp_.

"Can still put it in the resume", Storm argued.

"NO, because we are to NEVER discuss it", Fire shot back.

"Fine, geez…" Storm pouted.

After an awkward silence, the three seemed to recover and place all their attention back on Naruto. Once again, all three spoke, "So what's the job boss."

Naruto blinked owlishly, confusion evident in his face, "What?"

"We're essentially sell-swords kid", Fire replied.

The blonde raised an eyebrow, "You sell swords?" he asked, eyeing the blades that Fire was holding.

"What!" The red panda snapped, "NO we don't sell swords, I'm saying we are sell-swords!"

The blonde looked at him in confusion, "What's the difference?"

"There's a big fucking difference!"

"You just said you sell swords!" Naruto snapped back, a getting a little angry.

"NO! I said that we are sell-swords!" Fire corrected, already annoyed.

"We're mercenaries kid", Earth interrupted, quickly seeing the conversation going south. "By sell-swords, he's saying that we're essentially mercenaries kid." It didn't help that Storm was trying, and failing, to suppress his laughter. "We fight for those who have signed the Panda Contract. You give us some of your blood, provide the chakra needed for our summoning, and we'll fight for you in return." Earth stated, simplifying everything the three of them said. "So I'll ask again, is their anything you need help with?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

Naruto chose not to comment on the fact that, even if he _was _being attacked, his enemy could have done away with him during their rather long introduction. The blonde just shook his head slowly, in response, "Sorry, I was just practicing the **Summoning Technique**." Thus confirming Earth's suspicions.

Fire narrowed his eyes, "You little bastard…" he growled taking a step towards the blonde.

Storm quickly brought his hands around Fire, hoping he wouldn't have to restrain him, "Calm down there big guy, everyone needs a little practice, right?" he said, patting Fire's back "…then again, this is exactly why the Shodo-pan refuses to meet the new guys."

Fire calmed down somewhat and sighed, "Hopefully this will happen less when this kid passes down the contract. He IS the first new summoner since that rule was put in place."

"Naruto, was it?" Earth stood right in front of Naruto, making the short boy crane his head up at the large creature. He then placed his hands/paws on Naruto's shoulders, "Very well. But if you _ever_ need anything, anything at all, just summon the three of us and we'll take care of it for you."

"We don't baby-sit", Fire piped in, becoming visibly distressed when Earth said, _anything_.

Naruto cocked his head to the side, ignoring Fire's input. "All right, but will I always summon _you three_ if I use that same amount of chakra?" He did use a lot of chakra. Did each of the summons have their own set amount of chakra required to summon? And he still didn't understand why he summoned three at a time, did he really use that _much_ chakra?

"Not unless you call for us directly." Fire answered, taking a moment to inspect one of his swords.

Earth nodded, "Exactly. If you want to call for us directly, just shout out our names during the actual summoning."

The blonde raised an eyebrow, "Your names?"

"EARTH!" Earth's deep voice came in, as he stomped his foot into the ground.

"Storm!" Storm answered next, in a suave tone of voice. A crack of thunder, once again, rang through the air.

"AND FIRRREEEEEEEEEEE!" Fire finished in a shrill voice that reminded Naruto of a heavy metal vocalist. Upon saying his own name, he raised both of his dao blades into the air.

The blonde nodded, a little off guard, "So…**Summoning Technique: Earth, Storm, and Fire**?"

All three of them nodded in confirmation.

Naruto finally smiled at the thought of everything, 'This is going to be so awesome!'

"However, keep one thing in mind", Earth began.

The blonde raised an eyebrow at him, "Yea?"

"Since you are our new summoner, and one of our only two summoners, we'll be making reports back to our Shodo-pan. It doesn't matter whether you summon _us_ or one of our _brothers._ The Pandaren you summon will make a verbal report to the Shodo-pan after they return to our homeland", Fire continued.

"Reports?"

"Your abilities, what you use us for, what kind of girls you like, whether you're a top or a bottom guy, etc." Storm finished.

The blonde looked at Storm in confusion, and slight embarrassment, "What does that other stuff have to do with anything?"

Storm looked down at the boy, "Everything. Every single action you make means something. From what you wake up in the next morning; to whether you prefer to eat in or order some take out", he said nonchalantly.

Storm's innuendo was obviously lost on the blonde, illustrated perfectly when the blonde gave him another confused look, "I prefer to eat at a Ramen restaurant, what's that mean?"

"Ohhhh…" Storm began with a wide grin on his face. "That sounds saucy."

"The point is" Earth interrupted, hoping Storm's words didn't scar the poor boy, "The Shodo-pan has said that he wants to learn **everything** about new summoners, in this case, _you_. Sometime later, he'll give you a test of his own choosing. If you fail his test, your contract with our family will forever be annulled." Naruto's eyes widened at that proclamation, "If you succeed, our Shodo-pan will grant you the privilege to summon him in battle."

"A lot has changed since I first signed the contract", Runa interrupted with a frown.

Earth turned his head towards her and grinned. If the looks on the faces of the other two were any indication, Earth was the only one who was able to puzzle out who she was. "Indeed K-"

"Runa" Mojo interrupted.

Not missing a beat, "Runa-san", Earth continued, giving Mojo a questioning glance. "Our former Shodo-pan made several changes to the contract a few years back, before our new Shodo-pan took his position. I don't think he bothered to mention it to you, because he already found you worthy. He-" he gestured towards Naruto, "-is unfortunate to have signed the contract at this time, and not several years back."

"I understand", Runa said with a masked expression.

"You said your…Shodo-pan…is your leader?" Naruto asked.

Earth nodded in confirmation. "Our leader, Chen Stormstout."

Runa nodded. She then turned towards the blonde, "Naruto, I believe it's time for you to get some rest. The next few days will be, chaotic"

Naruto before giving one last look at the Pandas "What about them?"

"Well, I was going to suggest we train together, so you can get a feel of our abilities, and we can get a feel for yours. However, since it seems you don't have the opportunity right now…" Earth gave a slight gesture towards both Fire and Storm. A moment later, both nodded and disappeared in a plume of smoke. "-We'll have to save it for another time. Other than that, I believe we've said just about all we've needed to say. Since you have no need for us, we'll leave for now."

The blonde nodded and turned to leave, when Runa's voice stopped him, "Remember my young apprentice, the contract is a great gift. Don't squander it on frivolous reasons, or you may never learn to stand on your own two feet." Runa warned.

Letting her words flow through his head for some time, the blonde gave the woman a small nod before marching away.

**

* * *

-x- Day One -x-**

The following day, at eight o'clock sharp, Naruto and his team arrived at the entrance to Area 44, **a.k.a.** the Forest of Death. Both Sasuke and Sakura had large bags packed. Naruto, on the other hand, didn't have a backpack. Instead, he chose to seal the majority of his equipment into scrolls, which he hid along his jacket. Most of his weapons, as well as a few rations of food, were packed in pouches and pockets that were also hidden, on his person.

Glancing around the crowd, he could tell that there were plenty of ninja who were doing the exact same thing…that or they were idiots who chose to take a five-day test without supplies.

The second examiner arrived shortly after that. She explained that they would be given one of two scrolls: a heaven scroll or an earth scroll. Their assignment was to _obtain_ the other scroll and bring both of them to the tower in the center. They were to do this **without** losing a teammate.

If they lost a teammate, through death or severe injury, they failed. If they didn't get to the tower within the five-day time limit, they failed. They were also told not to open either of the scrolls, though they weren't specifically told what would happen if they did, Naruto assumed that would also lead to failure.

With that, the examiner had each member sign a release form, exonerating Konohagakure from any responsibility if they happened to die in the following test. Afterwards, she gave one of the members on each team a scroll before assigning all of them a certain gate, around the forest, to start in.

Sasuke took their team's scroll, a heaven scroll.

The teams were split up at each gate, and waited for the signal to start.

**

* * *

**-x-

A few hours passed since the start of the exam, and things were going significantly bad. Everything started when two Ame Genins tried to jump Naruto while he was taking a small bathroom break.

Actually, Naruto was quite lucky that everything went so well. The moment he heard something, Naruto turned to see two Genins, with Rain hitai-ates, rushing him. On instinct alone, Naruto grabbed three senbon needles, one between each of his fingers and threw them at the Genin. The one in front, quickly dodged to the left, but the one in back didn't see the Senbon in time. Not seeing the needles in time, he attempted to swat them away, but only managed to get two of them. The last one slipped through his fingers and went right into his right eye. The one with a needle in his eye fell to his knees screaming. Strangely, the one who didn't receive the injury seemed to be ever more nervous than his hurt companion.

Either way, both of them immediately turned and ran the other way. Naruto didn't follow. Instead, he turned and rushed back to his teammates. He had been worried that the team's third member, who was not with them, would go after his two teammates. He had been right. The moment he entered the clearing he found Sasuke and Sakura, as well as another person who was obviously using a **Transformation technique **to look like him. Sasuke was already fighting him. After seeing the real Naruto, the fake canceled the transformation revealing another Ame-nin.

He retreated shortly after that. The members of team 7 continued there trek through the forest, neither having a clear plan of action as of yet. After about an hour, a violent gust of wind blew in the area they were in. Unfortunately for Naruto, the wind seemed to target him specifically and literally picked him up and carried him high up in the area, over the trees of the forest. He landed several hundred yards away, right into the open mouth of a gigantic snake.

Stuck in the creature's stomach, barely able to move, the blonde used the **Shadow Clone Technique** to fill the snake's stomach with hundreds of clones. The snake's stomach exploded under the strain, freeing Naruto from his 'prison'. After taking a moment to gather himself, Naruto sprinted off in the direction he was thrown from.

* * *

-x-

The blonde Jinchuuriki found his teammates quickly enough. He cocked an eyebrow, 'What's Sasuke doing?' The Uchiha raised the scroll into the air and prepared to throw it towards another ninja, one wearing a Grass hitai-ate.

Sasuke threw the scroll over to the Kusa-nin. Thinking quickly, Naruto jumped in the middle of the two, intercepting the scroll and hiding it in his jacket. "What the hell are you doing?" the blonde snapped, glaring daggers at Sasuke.

"Naruto you idiot! Give her the damn scroll, we can't beat her!" Sasuke snapped back.

"What, are you scared?" the blonde shot back.

Sasuke's eyes widened. Naruto's words reminded him of something his brother told him four years ago.

"Seems the fool is the only person on your team with a spine, how irritating", the woman muttered, before charging Naruto.

Naruto raised his hands into the cross hand seal, "**Shadow Clone Technique**!" he called as nine clones surrounded him. All ten charged the woman.

The woman punched three, kick another two, before grabbing the real Naruto and throwing him at another two. Crashing to the ground, Naruto looked up in time to see the Kusa-nin take his last two clones. Quickly jumping to his feet, Naruto put his hands in the cross hand seal again, "**Shadow Clone Technique**." This time Naruto created twenty clones, thinking about what he could do. 'I can try a Heavenly technique, but what then, I jump her with all my clones? Use senbon on pressure points? No, she's too fast. Damn it! If only my Taijutsu didn't suck!' That's when realization struck the blonde as he glanced at his clones.

"_-you specifically don't actually need to use this style, now do you?"_

He remembered both Runa's and Kakashi's words when they spoke of the Berserker style Kakashi gave the blonde. He didn't quite understand the what they meant at that point, but he got the point now. He looked at the clones that stood in front of him. "I don't have to be the one to use the style", the blonde muttered. He turned to the clones, "Guys! Follow my lead!" Naruto went into a strange stance. He spread his legs, right leg in front and left leg in back. He placed his right arm up over his head, and his placed his left one forward. Both of his hands were opened, as if the blonde were preparing to scratch the woman. The twenty clones followed suit.

"Oh, what's this?" the woman asked as she went into her own stand.

All twenty-one of the blondes smirked, "The strength of my **Ferocity**."

Ten of the clones charged the woman, while the other ten moved around to surround her. The woman charged at the closest clone, and punched him in the face. She turned and used a sweeping kick to take out another two. As quick as lightning, the woman turned to grab one that was flying through the air to kick her, by the leg, and threw him into another two clones. She aimed for another clone, which was charging at her, and threw a punch. This time, the clone's course altered and punched the woman in the elbow before her own fist connected, dispelling that clone in a puff of smoke as well.

She flinched in pain right after the clone dispelled. Another clone jumped at her and aimed his fist at her face. The woman used her other arm to punch the other clone, but not before the clone brought his leg up to kick the woman's arm. That didn't stop the woman from dispelling that clone as well. She glared at the rest of the clones who began to charge her as well.

She punched two clones in the face, both of them scratched her: one in the shoulder, another in the arm. She kicked another two, they both kicked her in the legs. She grabbed a clone by the collar of his jacket, he bit her hand. After flinching, she threw that clone into another two. She didn't notice the two that snuck up behind her to kick her in the back. They both scratched her again before she managed to dispel them. Not taking any chances, she used two kunai to dispel the last two clones.

She quickly snapped her head back at the blonde, preparing to lung at the boy. She found him, with his right arm stretched out to him, palm facing her, "**Heavenly Subjugation**", he muttered.

The woman then felt herself pushed back, a few feet, by an invisible force. Her eyes widened as she concentrated her gaze on the blonde, 'Pein-' her thoughts were cut off when she felt something connect with the side of her head, sending her flying back several yards. After regaining her balance, her head snapped to the right, looking at another clone. She frowned; she _knew_ took out the twenty clones he initially made. 'He must have created more while I was busy with the others.'

She glanced up and leapt backwards in time to dodge another clone. Many more fell out of the trees to join the first two. She growled, before moving herself, positioning the group of clones between himself and Naruto. She did a series of hand seals, "**Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!**" the woman blew out a great gust of wind that blew both the clones and Naruto away.

The blonde flew several yards backwards, crashing into the ground, hitting the back of his head in the process. Groaning from the splitting headache, he reached for the back of his head, flinching when he touched a tender spot. Unable to think straight, he stayed motionless for several moments, barely clutching onto consciousness. After a few moments, he began to get up. He slowly flipped himself over so he was on his hands and knees. It took him nearly a full minute, and he had to balance himself on a nearby tree the entire time, but he slowly managed to get onto his feet. He stayed there for another few minutes, still having trouble thinking with his head injury. 'Note to self: concussion bad.' Slowly, he opened his eyes, allowing them to get used to the light again.

"SASUKE!" he heard Sakura scream.

He, slowly, began walking in the direction of her voice. With his head still pounding, he truly had no idea what he could do; hell he could barely even think. He just knew he had to reach his two teammates as quickly as possible and see what was going on.

When he reached the clearing, he saw Sakura, cradling Sasuke's head in her lap. He looked around for the Kusa-nin. Luckily, he thought a little to joyfully, he didn't see anyone. He slowly began walking towards Sakura, glad that his headache was beginning to subside. Enough to let him think a little more clearly, but not enough to put him completely at ease. Still, it was a start. "What happened?"

Sakura snapped his head towards Naruto, tears in her eyes, "Sasuke-kun is hurt", she said softly, looking very much like a kicked puppy.

He nearly mentioned that he wasn't the only one, but he decided against it. He looked down at Sasuke, before turning his head. "We need to get somewhere safe, then I'll see if I can heal him afterwards. Do you think you can carry him?"

Sakura's eyes widened, "Yea, you can do that **Phoenix Technique**", she said, suddenly remembering Naruto's healing technique…the only one they had between the whole team. She carefully placed Sasuke's head on the ground before standing, giving Naruto a sharp look. "You have to heal Sasuke-kun now."

The blonde flinched when she raised her voice. 'Second Note to Self: Loud noise bad.' "He'll have to wait, it's not safe here", he replied. _Someone _had to have heard them fighting, especially after how many Ninjutsu were thrown around. The likelihood of someone showing up, coming after the wounded victor, was likely.

Sakura understood this simple fact, and Naruto's logic, but was still too worried over the Uchiha. "But what if he gets worse, or…dies?" she asked that with more than a little horror in her voice.

Naruto just shook his head, "If a team comes along and attack's us while we're out in the open and busy tending to Sasuke, then we'll _all_ be dead."

She gulped at that possibility, but even still she seemed indecisive. She looked back down at Sasuke, as if he would give her the answer she sought.

Her hesitation was beginning to annoy the blonde. He turned his back and took a few steps away from her, before turning back, "I wonder how Sasuke will react when he finds out his _teammate_ freaked out to the point that she didn't do a damn thing to help him when he was hurt."

Sakura's eyes widened and she quickly scooped Sasuke up, carefully placing him on her back before she began walking towards Naruto. Throughout their trek, Naruto couldn't help but let out an annoyed scowl.

He was a little annoyed by all the attention that she was still showering Sasuke with. He was annoyed that she became so damn helpless, not that she was much help before, the moment Sasuke got hurt. He was especially annoyed with how easy he had manipulated her; one word that Sasuke could hate her, and she quickly came around to his line of thinking. She allowed herself to be manipulated so damn easily.

Then again, there was a dark part of him that reveled in the simplicity.

* * *

-x- **DAY TWO **–x-

"Orochimaru-sama!" three voices acknowledged simultaneously.

Orochimaru smiled at the three ninja that were bowing before him. He himself was leaning against a tree, staring at the three from the side. "Good to see you three made it. And on time no less."

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama!"

"As you three know, I have a mission for you", Orochimaru stated. "I want you to assassinate somebody for me."

One of the ninja, a boy wrapped up in bandages looked up at the Snake Sannin.

One of the three, a boy wrapped up in bandages, looked up at the man, "Yes my lord, you wanted us to kill Sasuke Uchiha, correct?"

"No", Orochimaru denied. "You have a new target. I want you to kill Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

-x-

"Release!" Shikamaru called, giving the person in front of him a glare. He currently had her tethered down with his shadow-style Ninjutsu. 'Not a Genjutsu.'

Ino looked at him with a scowl, "What the hell are you doing?"

"You've been gone for over an hour, care to explain that?"

"I got lost", Ino shot back, "You two idiots were moving too fast!"

"Ino does have a bad sense of direction", Chouji whispered towards Shikamaru. Unfortunately, it was loud enough for Ino to hear him.

"I heard that fatty!" Ino spat back, glaring daggers at Chouji, "I do _not_ have a bad sense of direction!"

"Has the same bad attitude", Chouji said, ignoring the urge to attack the girl for calling him fat.

"Enough", Shikamaru snapped, seeing this conversation quickly heading south. "First day we became a team, Yahiko-sensei gave us a test to see if we qualify as a team, what was it?"

"Who the fuck is Yahiko-sensei? Our sensei's name is Asuma."

Shikamaru smirked, "Good answer. But just to be safe, how about you answer my first question."

"Fine", Ino said in exasperation, "We first had to show him our skills, then we had to show him we could work together as a team. Happy?"

Shikamaru released his shadow. "Very. Now explain what happened."

"I already told you that", Ino snapped, "I got lost. You idiots were moving way to fast!"

"Come on Shikamaru, we should be happy that she's safe." Chouji then turend towards Ino, "Ino, it's just that we've been worried about you, ever since you disappeared."

"Quiet", Shikamaru hissed in a whisper. All three suddenly quieted down, waiting. "After a moment, he gestured for them to hide in the shrubbery, "There's another team coming."

* * *

-x-

The following few hours went by at a painfully slow pace. Both Naruto and Sakura, with the unconscious Sasuke, found a small cave quickly enough to take shelter in. After ordering Sakura to set up a few traps outside, he quickly went to work on Sasuke. With a few hand seals, he activated the **Phoenix Technique** and began flooding Sasuke's body with healing chakra. After giving Sasuke enough chakra to heal several large wounds, he cut the flow of chakra off and went to go sit against the adjacent wall. He turned to Sakura, who had been watching him for a while now, and shrugged at her, telling her that he couldn't do much more for now.

In truth, things were a lot harder without the ability to see a visible wound, which Sasuke didn't have. Though he had a strange mark, where his shoulder met his neck, he didn't even have the bite mark Sakura suggested he would have.

He guessed, by the mark he had, that she poisoned Sasuke in some way when she bit him. If that were the case, the healing chakra he pumped into the Uchiha's body should be enough to fortify the boy's immune system. Unfortunately, he had never worked with poisons, which limited his abilities somewhat. A healing Ninjutsu was in no way, the best way to combat poisons. Not by a long shot. It required a ridiculous amount of chakra and even then it was still a long shot. Luckily, he had enough chakra to spare.

And that's how the next few hours went by. Sakura was next to Sasuke, checking on him every few seconds. Naruto was off to the side, just waiting…something that was never his strong point.

"This is all your fault", Sakura snapped, breaking the silence.

The blonde lazily looked over at the girl, not facially reacting to her words. She was giving him a hard look. Normally, Naruto would take whatever physical and verbal abuse the girl would take out. Unfortunately, fatigue, both mental and physical, made the boy's patience for the girl's BS run thin, "You wouldn't be the first person to blame me for something I didn't do. Do you at least have a decent reason?" he asked, giving her a cold look.

"Sasuke wanted to give her the scroll, and _you_ decided to get in the way!" she said back coldly.

The blonde sighed as he reached into his jacket, "I actually thought the same for a while", he lied. While Naruto blamed himself for their defeat, it wasn't for the same reason Sakura did. After all, they were supposed to fight for the damn scrolls, weren't they? When he saw Sasuke, relatively unharmed, giving the grass kunoichi the scroll, he actually assumed there was a Genjutsu involved in the exchange. He figured he'd step in, knock some sense into Sasuke, and the three of them would gang up on the grass kunoichi, who was seemingly alone. Unfortunately, Sasuke didn't get involved until after he, Naruto, was already knocked out, and Sakura didn't seem to do anything at all. But that was all besides the point. In reality, Naruto did blame himself. He should have connected the woman with the giant snake, which nearly ate him earlier. During his first skirmish, he found out the woman was much stronger than him. At that point, he _should_ have used the **summoning technique**, not gone after her with a different tactic. He gave Sakura a stoic look "I _did_ think that way, until I found this" He showed her the heaven scroll. "She saw me put the scroll in my jacket. She had to have known the Ninjutsu she used on me knocked me out, at least for a while. If she really _wanted_ this thing, she could have gotten it then, but she didn't, she went after Sasuke." Sakura looked at him in shock. "It looks like she _wanted_ to…do whatever it is she did to Sasuke."

"But why?"

The blonde shrugged, having no answer for the girl. 'I should have done the damn summoning', he inwardly cursed, standing up at the same time. "I'm going to go scout around."

AT that, Sakura looked visibly distressed. "What? Why?"

The boy silently wondered if she realized the fact that he was essentially leaving her alone with Sasuke. 'Or maybe she just realized how weak she is', the boy thought bitterly. "We're going to need more water soon, so I'm going to look for a lake."

"Watch it, other ninjas may get the idea to set up traps near bodies of water."

The blonde nodded.

* * *

-x-

"That was easy enough", Chouji commented, wiping some sweat from his brow.

"Let's go then", Shikamaru said, turning in the direction he knew the tower to be. "We're not _too _far from the tower."

Both Ino and Chouji nodded.

* * *

-x-

Upon returning to the clearing, where the cave they had been hiding in was, Naruto quickly realized how foolish he was to leave Sakura alone. Quickly scanning the clearing, he began planning his strategy for when he revealed himself.

Sakura was on the ground, with her formerly long hair cut to just below her shoulders. The kunoichi of team 7 was beat up pretty harshly, and appeared to be unconscious.

Another Konoha Genin, the one who fought Sasuke earlier, Rock Lee, was also in the area. Unfortunately, the boy was also in bad shape. Though he didn't appear to be suffering from any serious wounds, it did look like he got hit a lot. Strange enough, though he was kneeling, he didn't appear to be incapacitated from his injuries; he just appeared dizzy really.

Sakura and Rock Lee weren't the only two in the de facto battlefield. That Oto team, the same one who got into a skirmish with Kabuto, right before the first exam, was there as well. The girl was on the ground, seemingly unconscious. The two guys were on opposite sides of Lee, obviously seeing him as the greatest threat.

Naruto looked out at the two in front of him, thinking quickly. After what happened during his last fight, and the fact that he was outnumbered, the obvious choice would be to use the **Summoning Technique**. Unfortunately, the chakra required for that jutsu was liable to draw attention of other ninja, hoping to find exhausted opponents. And with Sasuke still unconscious and Sakura seemingly knocked out, it left the group without the ability to move quickly enough to avoid detection. 'I _could_ have the Pandas beat up the Oto team and then have the Pandas grab Sasuke and Sakura and then run', Naruto thought. He supposed he could also have them grab Lee. He didn't know the exact circumstances as to why he was here, but he figured he shouldn't just leave a fellow Konoha Genin in the Fire. That and it seemed that Lee was _also_ fighting the Oto nins. The enemy of my enemy, and what not.

"_Remember my young apprentice, the contract is a great gift. Don't squander it on frivolous reasons, or you may never learn to stand on your own two feet."_ Naruto remembered Runa say, loud and clear.

The blonde frowned, 'Never learn to stand on my own two feet?' he thought bitterly. Was now really the time to, essentially, test his own strength? One mistake and he could end up in a hostage situation; the blonde took a moment to glance over at Sakura, before turning back to his enemies. The blonde held his breath when he saw one of the Oto-nin's, the one with spiky hair, raised one of his hands, pointing it straight at Lee.

* * *

"Kiss your ass goodbye you scum!" Zaku laughed as he prepared to hit Lee with his air cannon again. Fortunately for the green-clad Genin, Zaku managed to make out the sound of metal sailing through the air.

"ZAKU!"

Ignoring Dosu's warning, for he already knew what the bandaged-boy was going to say, Zaku turned his hand in the direction he knew the shurikans to be coming from. "**Decapitating Air Wave!**" he yelled as a wave of sound erupted from his hand, knocking the throwing stars away.

"**Shadow Clone Technique!**" Both Zaku's and Dosu's eyes widened when they saw fifty orange-clad blondes exit the trees.

"Zaku, he's the target!"

Once again, he ignored the bandaged boy's proclamation, opting to concentrate on the army of Shadow Clones moving to surround the two Oto-nins. A moment later they all fell on the two boys like a biblical flood. Both boys were completely calm, neither of seeming to care about the fact that they were surrounded. Zaku turned his back to Dosu, and Lee, and extended each arm to each side. "**Dual Decapitating Air Wave**"

Dosu, obviously recognizing the technique, just concentrated chakra towards his Melody Arm, before quickly swiping his arm around, sending weak sound waves throughout the area. To a normal person, this would be barely enough to cause any damage. To a Shadow Clone, it was just enough to dispel each of the clones surrounding him.

* * *

Naruto didn't bat an eye as all his clones were dispelled, leaving the area around the two Oto-nins covered in smoke. He merely put his hands in the cross sign again before whispering, "**Shadow Clone Technique.**" Creating a single clone right next to him, the real Naruto began moving through the trees around the clearing.

* * *

"Where the hell did that little green-freak go?" Zaku yelled, cursing at Lee's disappearance during the smoke screen.

Dosu quickly gestured his arm to the right, "He left with pinky in that direction." Unfortunately for him, he didn't get a chance to say anything else.

"**Shadow Clone Technique!**" Another fifty clones came out of the trees, landing on Dosu's side once again. This time the clones didn't bother to try and move to surround the Oto-nins. They just charged straight ahead. All fifty of them were yelling out a furious war cry. "AAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Zaku pointed both his hands towards the clones, "Move it Dosu, he's mine!" Dosu quickly leapt to the side, opting to allow Zaku to use his attack. "**Extreme Decapitating Air Wave!**" An enormous burst of sound/air exploded from both of Zaku's hands, engulfing the charging clones. After he cut off the chakra, the burst of sound stopped, revealing all the clones had been dispelled once again. Zaku smirked as he lowered his arms, "Idiot is going to lose all of his chakra at this rate."

"I don't think so."

"FUCK!" Zaku cursed as he felt something sharp stab him in his right upper arm. Stumbling forward, he quickly turned on his heel, ignoring the pain, and pointed his left arm at Naruto. Unfortunately for him, Naruto had followed up with another throwing star, hitting Zaku in the palm of his hand, just under the air cannon. "Shit!" the boy fell to his knees at this point, looking at both his arms in fear. A moment later, Naruto's foot connected with Zaku's chest, sending the boy tumbling backwards.

The blonde quickly turned towards Dosu, who was charging straight at him, right arm raised.

"**Leaf Whirlwind!**" Lee appeared out of nowhere and connected his foot to Dosu's chest, sending the boy flying back several feet.

Dosu recovered quickly enough, to evade the senbon needles thrown by Naruto. Dosu looked at Naruto and then towards Lee, and raised his arm.

"Lee!" Everyone in the clearing turned towards the sound of the voice, seeing a boy with pale eyes and a girl with buns in her hair standing off to the side.

Dosu's eyes widened, "Wait!" The bandaged boy pulled a scroll out of his jacket. "Let's make a trade. I'll give you our Earth scroll, just let us go."

The blonde looked at the Oto-nin oddly before he quickly created a single Shadow Clone. "Drop the scroll on the ground and take a few steps backwards."

Dosu nodded, and did as he was told. The clone went over to the scroll and picked it up. It looked like the real thing, from the intricate designs to the very feel of it. Unfortunately, without the ability to open the scroll up, he couldn't confirm it one hundred percent. Sending a pulse of chakra through the scroll, and then checking it over for Genjutsu, the clone waited a few more moments before tossing it over to the real Naruto.

"Take you teammates", Naruto nodded. Dosu nodded before going to collect his two teammates. He left a moment later.

"Lee", the Hyuuga called out again. He gave Naruto a quick glance, before turning back to his teammate. "We got both our scrolls, let's go now."

After a quick bow to both Naruto and Sakura, who had recently regained consciousness, Lee left with his two teammates. A moment later both Naruto and Sakura snapped there heads towards the cave, feeling a malevolent chakra leaking from it.

* * *

Sasuke had woken up, flaring with black and purple chakra, and covered in black flame-shaped markings. Seeing only his teammates in the area he calmed down after a few moments, though the black marks were still present on his body. The boy had wanted to go off and find another Genin, or team, to fight them and test his own power; an attitude that caused a freaked out Sakura to move to restrain him. Surprisingly, the act caused the marks on his body to…recede…back into the mark that was on his shoulder. Though it didn't stop the boy from wanting to go off on his own to find, and fight, another team.

Naruto stepped in at that point. He simply mentioned that the people who advanced to the third exam would most likely be much stronger than the people who were still around the Forest of Death. The simple comment got Sasuke to calm down and agree to follow them to the tower. At a later point, when Naruto had time to go over what happened during the second exam, Naruto would think about how easy Sasuke allowed himself to be manipulated with more than a little disgust. And again, he would silently revel in the fact.

The members of team 7 quickly made their way to the tower, moving carefully enough to avoid detection from other teams. They managed to get to the tower by the end of the third day of the exams. After they went inside, the team found themselves in front of a strange monument, with an even stranger riddle. Sakura managed to work out that they needed to open both scrolls at the same time, which they did. A Chunin, their former teacher Iruka, appeared a moment later in a puff of smoke. He explained to them the meaning behind the riddle on the wall and then sent them off. Since there was still a day before the exam ended, they were allowed to stay in one of the barracks at a lower level. Apparently the proctors managed to separate the Genin team by Country, which meant the members of team 7 quickly found themselves in the company of both Team 8 and Team 10.

Though neither of the teams would learn that until the beginning of Day 4.

That morning Kakashi met up with them in the room the three shared. He didn't stay long or say much, as usual. He just came in, gave Sasuke a piercing look and told the Uchiha to follow him.

Sakura, without the object of her affection insight, actually met up with Ino. Surprisingly, neither of the girls got into a cat fight, like they normally did when they were back in the academy. Ino even took a few hours to help Sakura fix her hair, which still looked slightly worse for wear.

Unfortunately for Naruto, he was left without the ability to practice any of his techniques, since he was stuck inside in such a confined space. In the end, he decided to do a light work out and meditate for a while. Unfortunately, that's all he could do. He ended up spending the rest of the day, completely bored out of his mind. Something that made the day go by that much slower pace. He really wished he had the forsight to bring some of his books with him, or the scroll Sasuke had written up for him…not that he could practice it indoors.

The fifth day went by in much the same fashion. The only difference was that Kakashi came by midday, with a slightly sedated Sasuke in toe.

Finally, at the beginning of the next day, the proctors gathered all the teams that were in the tower already, declaring that anyone left in the forest at this point had failed.

Looking around, Naruto noticed that there were five teams from Konoha. The three teams from his graduating class, plus both Lee's Genin team and Kabuto's Genin team. There were also Genin teams from: Suna, Iwa, and Oto. The blonde noticed with a frown that the Oto team was the same group that tried to attack his team during the exam.

The Hokage arrived, along with the second examiner and a large group of older shinobi. Aside from Kakashi, who arrived with them, three others caught his eyes. The ones with an Oto, Iwa, and Suna hitai-ate. He assumed they were the senseis of the three foreign Genin teams.

Another Jounin, a Konoha-nin by the name of Hayate, appeared before the Hokage and offered to explain the rules of the next exam. After he explained the true purpose behind the Chunin exams, he explained that since there were far too many participants, they would be holding a preliminary round to make sure only the best would go on to the third exam.

First, he asked if any of the Genins wanted to quit at that moment. Kabuto raised his hand at this point, opting to quit because he felt he was too low on chakra.

Afterwards, Hayate told everyone to go to the catwalks above the arena. At that point, he pointed to the screen that would decide the first battle of the preliminary rounds…

**

* * *

**

**

* * *

A/N: If the ending felt rushed, that's simply because I ****HATE**** the second exam. Unfortunately I couldn't simply summarize the whole thin, like I did during the Wave Arc.**

**For those of you wondering about Earth, Storm, and Fire. In Warcraft 3, there is a hero (the Pandaren Brewmaster) with the ability to split himself into three different avatars, each having the ability over a single element (Earth, Storm/Lightning, and Fire). I decided to incorporate that into the story, by adding three Pandarens who nicknamed themselves after the elements. Hopefully, I did a good job in giving them each a distinguishing personality.**

**As most of you will notice, all the Genin teams passed on to the final round, despite the fact that I said (in a previously AN) that one of them would be getting the axe. Unfortunately, that's the problem with announcing certain story elements a few chapters ahead. After talking it out with the person I discuss story elements with, I decided to keep them. However, the Preliminary exams and the Third exam will still be significantly different (I'm hoping you noticed I mentioned that there was a Iwa team in the Prelims).**

**Anyway a quick jutsu list.**

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* * *

1. Name: **Summoning Technique

**Rank: **Varies by the nature of the summoned beast.

**Users: **Many (many different summoning contracts throughout the world).

**Info:** The user uses this technique to summon a certain animals to aid them in a variety of tasks, from simple transportation to combat. The type of animal summoned varies between contracts.

**2. Name: **Summoning Technique: Earth, Storm, and Fire

**Rank: **S (with all three together)

**Users: **Naruto

**Info:** A sub-skill of the Summoning Technique, is the ability to summon a particular beast within the animal clan that serves you. Naruto uses this skill to specifically call the three Pandaren, nicknamed: Earth, Storm, and Fire.

**

* * *

A/N: Next time, I'll probably do a profile on the three Pandaren. Anyway, please review (I hope to have the next chapter done a lot quicker than it took me to do this one).**

**Anyway, Until next time.**


	7. Semi Finals

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, World of Warcraft, Kotor 2, or any other story element I may decide to implement from another story.**

**A/N: I know, I know. This chapter was a beast to write. It was simply one of those things where I REALLY didn't want to write about it, but I couldn't summarize it like I normally do. I'd like to say that won't happen again…but I actually expect it to happen during the Finals.**

**The next chapter will probably come out within a few weeks max though.**

**Oh, and since its been so long since an update…I decided to add a summary to what happened in the last six chapters.  
**

* * *

**SUMMARY OF THE STORY SO FAR**

**Chapter 1:**

After his second attempt at the Genin Exam, Naruto is contacted by a telepath named Runa who agrees to help him learn the clone technique. After successfully teaching him how to perform the technique, she left him with three times: a book on Beginners sealing, a book on Acupressure, and a scroll with the **Phoenix technique.** Through some positive reinforcement, Nauto managed to learn the technique in the scroll. However, through some as of yet unexplained circumstances, when Naruto went to take the Genin exam, he still failed to create a good clone. Mizuki talked Naruto into stealing the forbidden scroll and through it, he learns the **Shadow Clone technique**. Iruka finds him first, but is quickly attacked by Mizuki. After using revealing the truth behind the Kyuubi no Kitsune to Naruto, the boy quickly defeats Mizuki with the **Shadow Clone technique**. He also proves his mastery of the **Phoenix technique** by healing Iruka's wounds.

Naruto is taken to the Hokage's office, where the Hokage learns that Naruto's mysterious teacher is actually a 'former' Leaf-nin named Kreia. Kreia, when threatened by Hiruzen, told Naruto that the Fourth Hokage was his father, which damaged Naruto and Hiruzen's relationship.

Faraway, it is revealed that Mizuki is now under the custody of Kreia, and her personal Panda summon Mojo.

**Chapter 2:**

An early flashback reveals that Hiruzen tried to come to terms with Naruto and even revealed to him the name of his mother. Through some harsh therapy, Hiruzen managed to keep Naruto from angsting and believing himself to be a demon. Hiruzen, stuck between a rock and a hard place, tries to think of a way to keep Kreia (still under the alias of Runa, at least to Naruto) away from Naruto, but in the end decides to bide his time.

Back in the present, Kreia slowly teaches Naruto the **Heavenly Techniques (ie. The push and pull techniques that Pein uses)**. Later, Naruto is put on a team with both Sakura and Sasuke. They meet Kakashi, their official sensei. The next day, the new team 7 takes a survival exam. With the help of some clever foresight from Kreia, Naruto manages to create a clever combination of techniques (**Naruto style: Icha Icha Harem),** which nearly lands him a win. Sasuke seeing a good tactic when he sees one, decides to cash in on the blonde's brilliant plan and team up with Naruto. Unfortunately, neither gains a bell by the end of the time-limit. Naruto cancels the technique and is immediately assaulted by Sasuke, who takes offense to the technique. After reprimanding the girl and threatening the fail all three of them, Kakashi decides to give the trio one last chance. They passed.

**Chapter 3:**

Naruto continues learning the **Heavenly techniques**, Hiruzen continues plotting ways to save (Your Mileage May Vary) Naruto. He ultimately decides to wait for Jiraiya before taking action.

After realizing how annoying his team was, and how weak Sakura was, Kakashi decided to take action. He strategically _allowed_ Sasuke to annoy him into getting a Water/Defensive Ninjutsu out of him. Afterwards, Sakura enthusiasm to make herself stronger got Kakashi to give her a low ranking Genjutsu. Afterwards, mostly to get rid of a nagging voice in his head (Kakashi: "God damn you Gai") Kakashi decides to find Naruto a give him a scroll with the basis of a Taijutsu (Berserker) style. Left unsaid was that the moment Kakashi disappeared, he went to go destroy a few of his brain cells, hoping that would eliminate the annoying voice (Kakashi: "it didn't!").

Later Naruto and Co. get a mission to Wave Country. While there, Kreia announces that she wishes to meet him face to face. Back in Konoha, Hiruzen threatens Danzou into finding and eliminating Kreia for him.

**Chapter 4:**

Naruto finally meets Kreia (he still believes her to be Runa) face to face. He also meets another Jinchuuriki named Fu. Kreia dispatches both Naruto and Fu to take care of a job for her, which they do quickly enough.

Back in Konoha, in his not so secret ROOT headquarters, Danzou realizes that Kreia has taken hold of Naruto. While enjoying a cupcake, delivered to him by one of Hiruzen's ANBU, who weren't supposed to know where his secret base was, or even that it existed, he tried to decide what he would do from that point on.

Later, Sasuke meets with Runa, revealing that he was tailing Naruto. He asks Runa to train him, since she was clearly another Leaf-nin. After denying the Uchiha, she proceeds to screw with his mind, planting in him numerous questions that would continue to haunt him for days to come. He is returned to Tazuna's house with no recollection of what happened, or that he had even met the old woman.

Naruto and Fu have a long talk about the nature of their abilities and of what it means to be an outcast/Jinchuuriki. A talk that leaves Naruto shaken. Later, he returns to Tazuna's home to rest. He later meets with Haku who teaches the boy to protect those close to his heart. Later, Fu spies on and reports on the events during the battle on the bridge.

**Chapter 5:**

Kreia had a meeting with Kakuzu. Sasuke was beginning to have a mental breakdown. Naruto continued training. Kreia asked Naruto bring food to another one of her students, a girl named Yakumo Kurama. Naruto decided on Ramen.

Jiraiya met up with Kushina, they both happened to be tailing the same guy.

Naruto met Yakumo, who was in full fledge angsting mode, which made Naruto compare her to both himself and Fu. Kreia told Sarutobi some info regarding the new Sound village.

Jiraiya and Kushina spoke, and Jiraiya found out that she supposedly had a daughter, on the same day that he had thought that she had Naruto. Seeing that there's a kid who looks like Minato, and Kushina had a girl that looks like herself, yet absolutely sure that Minato and Kushina weren't supposed to have twins, Jiraiya decides to investigate the matter further…after he finished his other investigations though.

Sasuke and Naruto traded techniques: Naruto got the **Phoenix Flower technique** and Sasuke got the **Shadow Clone**. Team seven elected to take the Chunin Exams…

…and Naruto told all the other competitors to go fuck themselves.

**Chapter 6:**

After the first exam, Kreia (still posing as Runa) allowed Naruto to sign the Panda Summoning Contract. Naruto signed it, summoned, and became acquainted to the trio: Earth, Storm, and Fire. They promised to protect and help Naruto if the boy specifically called for them.

The next day, Naruto and Co took the second exam in the forest of death. Our hero was attacked by Orochimaru. After putting up one heck of a fight, for a Genin, Naruto is thrown aside, and Sasuke is marked by the Cursed Seal. Sakura constantly snaps at Naruto, and, though for completely different reasons than Sakura, actually blames himself for the loss.

Naruto goes out to scout the area, only to come back and find Sakura and Rock Lee being attack by a couple of Sound-nins. Naruto intervenes and fights off the group…and even gains the second scroll. After Sasuke woke up, the trio went towards the Tower in the center, with both scrolls. They reached it early enough and managed to get a few days of rest, and Sasuke got the Cursed Mark sealed off.

The current teams in the exams are: the three teams from Naruto's graduating Class, Gai's team, Kabuto's team, Garra's team, a Sound team, and an Iwa team.

**END SUMMARY**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Semi-Finals**

"The rules are simple. The matches will be a one on one (cough) between two Genin. You may fight your opponent (cough) with anything and everything at your disposal. If necessary, you may kill your opponent (cough), but if I see a match becoming too one sided, I'll call the match. Remember that you're fighting for the honor of your respective villages (cough). Good luck to all of you."

The screen up top kept cycling through names for several moments. It stopped on two names, each with the symbol of their respective villages. **Sasuke (Leaf) vs Yoroi (Leaf)**

Both Sasuke and Yoroi, one of the members of Kabuto's team, went down into the arena. Hayate signaled the match to begin, "Hajime!"

'**Sharingan!'** Sasuke's first move was to quickly activate is bloodlimit. His second was to lunge at Yoroi, aiming to end it quickly with his **Sharingan**-guided Taijutsu. Upon reaching striking distance, Sasuke jumped in the air and attempted a roundhouse kick.

During this time, Yoroi was quick enough to go through a small chain of handseals, before catching Sasuke's leg. The moment he got a closer look at the boy, or his eyes to be more specific, Yoroi growled. 'Little bastard stole my technique!'

Ignoring a slight feeling of nausea, Sasuke landed with the grace of a cat, before dropping down and attempting a quick sweep-kick to Yoroi's feet. The older shinobi jumped back, avoiding Sasuke's kick.

Standing back upright, Sasuke lunged again and began a long series of punches and kicks at Yoroi. Each one of them was blocked until Yoroi managed to catch both of Sasuke's hands in an arm-locked. Once again, a feeling of nausea washed over the Uchiha. Putting two and two together, Sasuke's eyes widened before kicking Yoroi in the stomach, getting the older shinobi to release him. He then put some distance between himself and his opponent. The Uchiha frowned as he began wondering what the man did to him earlier. He cursed himself when he looked at the man. He hadn't noticed that Yoroi's hands had a slight glow. 'What Jutsu is he using?' he asked himself, remembering those hand seals Yoroi did earlier.

-x-

Sakura frowned before turning to look at her sensei, "What's wrong with him, Kakashi-sensei?"

Not even sparing the girl a glance, he whispered, "He's using a Ninjutsu that allows the user to steal their target's chakra."

"He's stealing Sasuke-kun's chakra?"

"Battles of this fashion, between two people of the same village are usually difficult, in some ways even more so than battles between two people of different villages. Neither combatant wants to lose, yet they also don't want to kill a member of their own village." Though Kakashi's statement would generally be considered correct, it wasn't so in the case of Yoroi. Though Yoroi was unwilling to kill Sasuke, it wasn't because of any form association he may have felt for a member of his own village or what not. "So they use different tactics, like the one Yoroi is using. He uses Taijutsu style that focuses on grappling, in conjunction with a Ninjutsu that lets him absorb chakra."

Sakura, as well a few others who _knew_ Sasuke, flinched when they saw Yoroi slam him into the ground. The older man then grabbed the younger boy's face, effectively holding him against the ground.

-x-

_"Foolish little brother."_

Yoroi's speed was as laughable as his fighting style. Sasuke could easily run circles around him and, thanks to his **Sharingan**, he could also read him with ridiculous ease. Despite the fact that he hadn't heard Kakashi's assessment of Yoroi's abilities, he was quickly able to deduce to function of his Ninjutsu. All in all, it should have been a quick victory. Unfortunately, certain factors kept the boy from concentrating on his opponent.

"_-you are filled with far too much anger and hatred that your very sanity is hanging on a thread."_

Certain factors like voices in his head. One of the voices belonged to his traitorous older brother. The second voice sounded like an old woman, the same voice that had been haunting him since Wave, he couldn't remember ever meeting.

"_Hate me, cling to your pathetic life."_

Sasuke kicked Yoroi in the stomach, knocking the older boy backwards. Sasuke leapt at the man in front of him, motioning to kick the man.

"_HATE ME!"_

-Sasuke faltered for a moment, just a moment, but it was enough for Yoroi to get, safely, within Sasuke's range and catch the boy. Yoroi then turned and slammed the boy into the ground. Sasuke's eyes widened when he began to feel nausea once again.

_"-where is that vigor you displayed just moments ago."_

The Uchiha clenched his teeth and began struggling.

Foolish little brother.

Sasuke's eyes widened, "DAMN YOU!" Sasuke managed to free his right arm and Yoroi noticed far too late that the younger ninja was holding a kunai.

Yoroi snarled as a sharp pain erupted in his elbow. Cringing as he crawled backwards, the man sniffled and tried to grasp his elbow only to aggravate the kunai that was still lodged in it. Breathing roughly, he clenched his teeth and grasped at the kunai. Breathing in and out a few times, he quickly pulled it out…grunting in the process. He, slowly, rose up and looked for the Uchiha…He found him.

In the form of a pair of Sharingan eyes, inches away from his own.

-x-

"That move." Lee narrowed his eyes, as Sasuke launched Yoroi into the air with a, near, vertical kick.

Neji nodded. It was the same opening move Lee, and Gai, used whenever they were ready to use their **Front Lotus**. So, the Uchiha knows how to use the Iron fist? That was interesting, he learned, not only the Uchiha Clan's personal Taijutsu style, but also a second one? That could be interesting.

"He copied it with his **Sharingan**", Gai said.

That would explain Lee's surprise. After all, it wasn't such a big surprise that two people, from the same village, learned to use the same Taijutsu style. At least one that wasn't a secret, like the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist. So…the Uchiha had copied Lee's move. But, when? During the Forest of Death maybe? Lee had been alone, protecting the guy's pink-haired teammate, for quite some time. Perhaps the Uchiha hadn't remained unconscious afterall.

"Amazing…" Lee muttered, as he watched Sasuke appear above the airborne Yoroi. The Uchiha began kicking the older man.

Neji snarled at that. Perhaps it was his clan's old hatred of the Uchiha or perhaps it was the growing respect he admittedly had for his teammate, but the fact that the Uchiha stole one of Lee's hard earned techniques bugged him.

"He'll kill him!" Tenten screamed, though her voice was drowned out by several others around the room.

Neji, startled out of his musings, looked up to see the Uchiha, still airborne, finishing a set of Handseals, ending in the Tiger sign.

-x-

He'd show Yoroi…he'd show whomever the fucking voice was…he'd show Itachi…he'd show EVERYONE. Sasuke glared at the falling man as he finished his set of handseals…

He'd show everyone what happens when you screw with an _Avenger_.

"**Dragon Combo**!" Sasuke called out before breathing out a large fireball at the falling man.

The spectators watched in mixtures of awe, panic, and bloodlust as Yoroi was engulfed in flames.

A second later, the fireball dissipated and Sasuke landed on the ground, and promptly fell to his knees. The Uchiha looked up and saw Hayate several feet away. An unconscious, and severely burned Yoroi, was laying behind the sickly Jounin. The man stared at the Uchiha momentarily before raising his right arm.

The winner is Sasuke Uchiha.

* * *

**Temari (Sand) vs Tenten (Leaf)**

The next match was between Tenten, the kunoichi under Maito Gai, and Temari, the kunoichi from the only Suna team to make it to the Preliminary round. Unfortunately, for Tenten, the match was over before it even began. Though Tenten was skilled, perhaps the most skilled Konoha kunoichi taking the exam this year, she was in no way a match for Temari's fighting style. While Tenten concentrated on long ranged attacks with multiple types of throwing weapons, Temari used a style in conjunction with her fan that seemed to give her some control over the wind and air around her. She easily deflected all the projectiles that came her way, while arrogantly toying with the kunoichi from Konoha. In the end, Temari used her fan to trap Tenten in a cyclone that lifted her off the ground. When the cyclone subsided, the bun-haired girl dropped, right on top of Temari's fan. She then, cruelly, threw the girl away like a rag doll. Tenten would have landed harshly on the ground, if not for Lee, who quickly snatched the girl up midair. After chastising Temari, who all but ignored his remarks, he allowed the Medic-nins to take Tenten away.

* * *

**Ino (Leaf) vs Sakura (Leaf)**

The moment that Ino got into the arena; she quickly untied her Hitai-ate from her waist, and tied it around her forehead. Sakura glared at her and followed suit; she untied her own Hitai-ate, from the position on top of her head, and retied it around her forehead. After a small conversation, one that Ino was only _partially_ paying attention to, the two former friends charged at each other.

During her charge, her mind went back to the second exam.

_-x- flashback –x-_

_Ino looked on in horror as her teammates suddenly disappeared from her sight. It wasn't that they were moving too fast, quite the opposite actually. She was in the back of the group when she suddenly felt a pair of hairy arms wrap around her, one pressed hard against her mouth, preventing her from screaming out. She was then, without either of her teammates realizing, taken into the shadows._

_Shikamaru noticed her disappearance a second too late._

_The hairy arms muffling her screams. She struggled violently against the arms, all of which was unfortunately in vain. Tears began to sting at her eyes, as thousands of scenarios went through her mind's eye…none of them good._

_And then everything went black._

_-x- end flashback –x-_

"**Clone Technique"**, Sakura called out. Two illusions of the girl suddenly appeared next to her. All three charged at Ino.

The blonde kicked the middle one, which disappeared, and punched the one on the right, which also proved to be a copy. The last one got in Ino's range and punched straight on the chin, sending the blonde stumbling backwards.

_-x- flashback –x-_

_Consciousness came back to her several minutes later, though she really didn't have a clear perception of time at the moment. Groggily, she looked up, expecting to see a group of ninja around her. The scenario was implanted in her head by a veteran kunoichi at the Academy, though she honestly didn't believe it would __**actually**__ happen to __**her**__._

_She let out a sigh of relief when she saw, not a group of male potential rapist, but a frail-looking old woman, sitting on a large rock. She quickly looked around, to see if there were others in the clearing. She didn't see anyone. The blonde slowly turned her eyes back, resting them on the woman before him._

_Ino blinked when she saw the old woman, vaguely seeing a slight resemblance. "Who are you?" She actually wanted to ask the question, -Do I know you- but decided against it._

_The old woman gave a slight smile, "Family."_

_-x- end flashback –x-_

"AAHHHH!" Ino screamed as she slice through her ponytail with a kunai. She then tossed the blonde tresses in front of her.

The pinkette frowned at her former friend.

"**Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique!"**

_-x- flashback –x-_

_She stood, facing the old woman in front of her, "You're my great-aunt." Realization suddenly dawned on the girl. In Ino's defense, she hadn't seen the woman since she, Ino, was about four years old._

"_I am. I'm also someone who wants to see my niece get everything she desires?"_

_Ino frowned at that, "My desires? What would you know of my desires?" it was a fair enough question, if a little rudely phrased. After all, she __hadn't__ seen the woman in eight-odd years._

_The woman grinned, "I know that all your current ones revolve around a certain Uchiha." Ino blushed at that, very truthful, statement. "I also know that one such as he will be looking to revive his clan, and he won't do it with just any random girl, pretty as she may be. He'll want a skilled kunoichi and an adept politician. I can help you with both cases…tell me has dear Inoichi mentioned me at all?"_

'_Did he ever', Ino thought to herself. During her Clan studies, she had to learn about various important figures that belonged to her family. Luckily for her, there was really only a handful. The most important two were the twins sisters: Runa and Ino, the latter being her namesake, who first developed the mind techniques and founded the clan in the first place. Besides those two, there was only one other person who was talked about with the same amount of respect as the clan's two forbearers; and that was Kreia Yamanaka. "He said you were powerful." That wasn't __exactly__ what her father said. He said that she mastered the clan techniques in a way that made her teachers look like novices. She easily, and quickly, surpassed all those that were considered masters in the Yamanaka Clan style. He said that she created about a dozen techniques, despite the fact that she only added eight of them to the clan library. He said that Kreia was power…pure and simple._

_Kreia smiled._

_-x- end flashback –x-_

Ino gasped when she was forced back to her body. 'What the hell was that?' she thought to herself. It was like Sakura had a second personality. She quickly got to her feet and looked in front of her, seeing Sakura back to hers. She growled before putting her hands in her family's unique hand seal. 'I can't lose!'

_-x- flashback –x-_

"_But why didn't you just come talk to me at home? Why the hell did you send a damn yeti to come and kidnap me in the middle of an exam."_

"_Aside from the fact that I just arrived back in Konoha this morning", she lied, "I don't want any of our other family members to pester me to train them as well. So I came to you directly and in secret." Kreia gave the girl a hard look. "I chose __you__ Ino, because you interested me more than the others. Perhaps you think that was a mistake? Perhaps I should have gone to your cousin instead?"_

_Ino's eyes widened, "No!" Not that she hated her younger cousin, Reina. It's just that the girl was already being haled as a future prodigy of her clan, despite only being seven years old. Most people in the clan were paying a lot of attention to her, attention that Ino secretly craved for herself. The blonde pursed her lips, "I was just curious. So, when do you want to teach me?"_

"_To be honest, I'm not one hundred percent sure that you're worth my time?"_

_Ino's eyes widened, "What?"_

_-x- end flashback –x-_

Sakura charged Ino, weaving left and right in an attempt to dodge the girl's second, **Mind Body Switch** attempt. Unfortunately for the pinkette, that wasn't Ino's plan.

"**Ninja Art: Psychic Spear!"**

Sakura flinched when she heard a loud, high pitched noise enter her ears. She tried to ignore it though, and instead went to punch Ino across the face.

Ino easily dodge the attack and leapt backwards, hands still in her family's handseal.

The kunoichi of team 7 flinched again, when she began to get a minor headache.

_-x- flashback –x-_

"_Today, I plan to teach you __one__ technique. Feel free to use it for the remainder of this part of your exam. If you manage to pass this part, I'll train you some more. If you fail to make it to the third part of your exam, then you may consider my interest in you expired."_

_Ino nodded, giving her a fiery look. "I'll make it!"_

"_Good. Now, I hope you know what will happen if you don't keep your new apprenticeship under me a secret. Some members of our family may try to coerce me into training other clan members: your clan's little prodigy included."_

"_I won't tell anyone."_

_Kreia smiled at her grandniece, "Now, shall we begin?"_

_For a moment, Ino looked unsure, "But shouldn't I be getting back to my teammates, to make sure I am able to pass the third exam. How long will it take me to learn this technique?" She also knew that Shikamaru and Chouji would be worried about her…something that didn't sit well with her._

"_My dear, you still have much to learn", the woman gave Ino an amused smile. "The Yamanaka clan specializes in techniques relating to the Mind. And time, is just a perception of the mind", though Ino didn't know it, and felt like it was much longer, she had only been gone about ten minutes. "Let me worry about how long it takes you."_

_-x- end flashback –x-_

Hands still in the handseal, Ino lunged at Sakura, who at this point was clutching her head. Balancing on one leg, she quickly kicked the girl with the other one, sending the pinkette to the ground. Sakura just stayed on the ground, still clutching her head.

"I declare this Ino Yamanaka's victory", he said before turning to the blonde, "Release the technique."

Ino did so and, after casting one last look at her former friend, walked up the stairs to stand with her teammate and sensei.

_-x- flashback –x-_

_Oddly, though it seemed to her like well over half a day went by, it only took her about an hour to learn the actual technique. Afterwards, she followed her great aunt's precise directions to her teammates._

_The moment she entered the small clearing though…_

"_**Ninja Art: Shadow Imitation Technique!"**_

_A reasonably paranoid Shikamaru caught her in his own family's Ninjutsu style_

_-x- end flashback –x-_

After a quick check up, a Medic decided that Sakura would be all right after a while, and decided to leave her with her sensei.

* * *

The next match between Shino of Leaf and Kin of Sound was also rather one sided. Kin immediately went on the offense, trying to hit the bug-user with multiple senbon needles. For his part, Shino just dodged all the projectiles. She tried to mix up her tactics a bit by throwing senbon needles with bells attached, which Shino also dodged. It seemed she had planned on that though, for the moment the needles crashed into the ground the bells rang. Shino dropped to the ground; obviously affected by the bells in some way. The girl grinned and began to casually walk up to him, spinning a kunai in her hand. Unfortunately, what she failed to notice was Shino's shadow or, to be more exact, what was hiding in his shadow. The moment her right foot stepped in his shadow, his Kikaichu immediately began crawling up her leg. Looking down to see the bugs on her leg she immediately screamed in horror. Shino stood up, seemingly unharmed, and lunged at Kin. He quickly smacked the girl across the head, sending her flying several yards to the side.

She landed unconscious.

* * *

**Kiba (Leaf) vs Kurotsuchi (Rock)**

Physically, Kiba had to admit that Kurotsuchi cute. She was thin, with barely a discernable muscle mass. She wore red fatigues, with a brown vest on top. She also wore a black sash around her waist, which went from just under her breasts to just above her behind.

The moment she and Kiba faced off, the dog-trainer gave her a cheeky grin. "Oh, I get the cute one? Don't worry sweetie, I won't hurt you too badly."

The girl gave him a cute smile, in return.

Hayate resisted the urge to groan at Kiba's comment. He remembered a time when he underestimated female opponents. "Hajime!"

Kiba smirked and rushed the girl, leaving his partner, Akamaru, on the ground behind him. Kurotsuchi, in response, just reached behind her. She grasped a handle and pulled it. Her 'sash' began to rotate around her body, before becoming unwound completely.

Kiba, exactly six feet away, had to twist to the right to avoid a nasty slash to the face. Instead he got away with a small scratch on his left cheek.

-x-

"Kakashi, what kind of weapon is that?" Sasuke asked, as he watched Kiba toss a round pill to Akamaru. Kiba's expression, stance, and aura all read that he was completely pissed off.

Ignoring his rudeness, Kakashi answered the boy's question, "It's called an **Urumi (Coiled Sword)**. It's a long sword-like weapon normally used by the monks of Earth Country. The blade is forged to be, not only sharp, but extremely flexible, letting whoever is wielding it to use it in a similar fashion to a whip. Aside from the long range, it also has a stealth advantage that you don't see in most weapons of that size. Because of its flexibility, you can hide it by coiling it around your body, like she did."

The Uchiha nodded, looking back towards the fight just in time to see Kiba swallow his own pill. "So, she's a weapon specialist." He said, more to himself than anyone else.

"Not at all. I've seen other people use that type of weapon before, including Masters. She's not bad, but she really shouldn't be using that weapon for combat at her current skill level. If I had to guess, I'd say that she's using the weapon as a ruse and simply doesn't want to give her true abilities away unless absolutely necessary. Hmm, I'm willing to bet that she probably favors Ninjutsu to anything else, though she's obviously no slouch with either Taijutsu or Genjutsu. She definitely specializes in Ninjutsu, though, and probably has access to a special element through a rare bloodlimit."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. "You got all that from the fact that she's _not_ very good with her weapon_._"

Kakashi smiled, or at least the trio thought he was smiling. "Well, it helps if you know who her grandfather is…"

-x-

Feeling the chakra surge throughout his body, Kiba got on all fours and growled at the girl. A moment later Akamaru, who had interestingly enough gone from white to red, transformed into a perfect copy of Kiba. "Let's go Akamaru. **Dual Piercing Fang!**" Both Kiba and Akamaru spun into a cyclone, going straight for Kurotsuchi.

With the grace of a dancer, the girl spun to the right, avoiding Kiba, and side stepped to the left, dodging Akamaru's attack by an inch. She glanced back in time to see both Kiba and Akamaru come out of their spin and land on the ground.

Growling at the fact that she still had her back to him, Kiba lunged at her again, Akamaru half a step behind him, **"Dual Piercing Fang!" **Once again, she gracefully spun out of the way of both Kiba's and Akamaru's attacks. And once again, she carefully watched the two as they landed. This time, they wasted no time in spinning back into their razor sharp cyclones.

-x-

"She's not going to win by just dancing around like that. One false move and Kiba's going to nail her", Chouji commented.

WHACK

Flinching, Chouji turned to his female teammate. He saw Ino blushing furiously, giving him a dangerous look. "Be careful how you phrase things, fatso!" she hissed.

Thinking over his words again, the poor boy immediately went scarlet when he thought of the, possible, second meaning of his words. "I-I-I-I m-meant-t that he's g-g-oing to b-b-eat her."

"I know what you _meant_", the girl snapped.

"Be quiet, you're both being too troublesome", Shikamaru commented. He continued watching Kiba and Akamaru constantly attempt to strike Kurotsuchi with their **Dual Piercing Fang**, only for the girl to dodge it at the last second. 'She's calculating his distance and trajectory…every time Kiba or Akamaru move past her.'

"What are you thinking, Shikamaru?" Asuma asked, whispering.

"That, while Kiba and Akamaru can probably keep this up for a while longer" the members of the Inuzuka clan were trained to develop a high level of stamina after all, "they _are_ expending a troublesome amount of chakra and stamina, while the girl is barely using any energy whatsoever to dodge either of their attacks." She was literally using the bare minimum to side step duo's attacks.

Chouji turned to his best friend, frowning, "Do you really think she can win?"

"Yes", Shikamaru replied, probably finding it to troublesome to say anything else on the matter.

-x-

As Kiba flew past her for what must have been the twentieth time, Kurotsuchi quickly turned on her heel to follow him, ignoring Akamaru who was coming up from her back right side. Seeing Kiba hit the floor, she quickly spun on her toes, and whipped her Urumi out, catching Kiba along his back before he had a chance to enter his Taijutsu style again.

The boy howled in pain, as Kurotsuchi's sword cut straight through his jacket, leaving an ugly gash along his back. Using her current momentum, she easily dodged Akamaru's own attack. The dog landed, but didn't enter the Taijtusu again either.

Giving Kiba a predatory look, she whipped her arm out once, then twice; leaving two more slashes along both his legs, causing him to fall to his knees. Blood was running across all three injuries.

She momentarily paused when Akamaru, still transformed into Kiba, stood between his partner and herself.

Up in the stands, team 8 stared on in horror at Kiba's state. Even the normally stoic Shino seemed a little more emotional than normal.

Akamaru growled as he launched himself at the girl, aiming to get inside the range of her weapon. Seemingly allowing him to do so, Kurotsuchi did nothing as Akamaru slashed a clawed hand straight across her face. A moment later, Kurotsuchi, weapon and all, dissolved into mud. Smelling her behind him, Akamaru turned in time to see Kurotsuchi kick Kiba in the chest, sending the boy tumbling to his back. As Akamaru was about to react, Kurotsuchi quickly placed the heel of her shoe on his neck.

"WAIT/NOOO!" Kurenai and Hinata yelled out respectively from the catwalks, but Kurotsuchi didn't pay either of them any attention. She kept her eyes on Akamaru, silently giving the dog her ultimatum. _Yield, or I'll break his neck._

Kiba could only gasp out for oxygen. Slouching, the dog transformed back into his puppy form.

"The match goes to Kurotsuchi of Iwa." He then gave her a hard look, "Now let him go."

Kurotsuchi released her grasp on Kiba, giving the boy a moment to gasp for air, and moved away from him, just as Kurenai landed to check on the boy. Quickly tying the Urumi around her waist, she shot one last look towards Kiba. "Next time, you might want to go all out", she sarcastically joked before _skipping_ back to the stairs and up the catwalks.

The people she walked by actually gave her a wide berth as she passed them.

* * *

**Kankuro (Sand) vs Yosuke (Rock)**

Like his teammate, Yosuke attempted to hide his _true_ abilities while using a katana. Unfortunately, the Rock-nin didn't anticipate that Kankuro would be using a puppet to fight him with. When Yosuke stabbed 'Kankuro' through with his sword, the Sand-nin sprung his trap and quickly overpowered his opponent.

While the fight was short, and seemingly one-sided, it did prove to send a message to Yosuke's final teammate. That message: don't hold back.

* * *

**Hinata (Leaf) vs Neji (Leaf)**

The following fight between Neji and Hinata was also one sided. Most considered it interesting to see two members of the same clan battle it out. After Neji belittled Hinata for some time, both Genin lunged at each other, going into a vicious Taijutsu dance. Both Hinata and Neji, being a part of the Hyuuga clan, were proficient in Jyuuken, a Taijutsu style that used light touches and chakra-based attacks to directly assault their opponent's internal organs.

By appearance, it seemed that neither combatant were doing much more than grazing each other, however the nature of their strikes were much more malicious. About a minute into the Taijutsu match, Hinata began to slow down considerably. She fell to her knees some time later, at which point Neji began to verbally assault her once more. After some unexpected cheering from the sidelines she managed get back up and try one last attack. Neji knocked her back easily enough and would have taken it further if he hadn't been held back by five of the Jounin. The Medics then came to take Hinata away.

* * *

**Rock Lee (Leaf) vs Zaku (Sound)**

Both Rock Lee and Zaku immediately went down to the arena and faced off. Zaku's left arm was in a sling. His right hand was also bandaged, but still obviously usable.

When they were told to start, Lee immediately rushed Zaku. The sound-nin quickly pointed his right hand at the boy and fire his air cannon, which Lee immediately dodged by jumping to the right. Moving quickly, Lee proceeded to flank Zaku's left side. Zaku just grinned and pulled his left arm out of his sling, and fired his air cannon once again. Surprised, Lee barely had time to bring up his arms to cover himself, as he was blown several meters back, hitting the wall in the process.

In obvious arrogance, Zaku laughed at the Leaf-nin's state as Lee picked himself up and stared at the catwalks and towards his mentor. The moment between master and pupil seemed to last for hours. Within that time period: Volcanoes erupted, tsunamis struck, stars exploded, waterfalls flowed, Kakashi ate a sandwich _(so hip)_, and the light shined bright. In the end though, only _one_ word passed between the Beasts of Konoha: _**YOUTH!**_

Lee nodded and detached his training weights. Everyone stared wide-eyed as Lee's weights left two craters in the ground from where he dropped them. With a grin, and a flash of his pearly (YOUTHFUL) white teeth, Lee rushed Zaku.

Lee simply rushed straight forward, in blinding speed, and close-lined Zaku, this time sending the Sound-nin flying into the wall. The medics were called in to take him out of the human shaped hole he left there.

* * *

**Chouji (Leaf) vs Dosu (Sound)**

The following fight was between Dosu of Sound and Chouji of Leaf. Though it seemed like Chouji had the advantage throughout most of the fight, Dosu was able to quickly defeat the Leaf-nin in one attack, despite the armor that his Ninjutsu provided him.

* * *

**Gaara (Sand) vs Misumi (Leaf)**

The next fight was between Gaara of Sand and Misumi of Leaf. Misumi, seemingly having no information on Gaara, quickly went through his usually tactic of trying to grapple with the younger boy, using his superhuman flexibility to his advantage. Unfortunately, Gaara's sand rose up to stop the man. It then quickly wrapped around the older nin. Misumi, visibly terrified, which was a quite a feat considering he was wearing a mask, opened his mouth to surrender. Unfortunately, Gaara's next, and only, sentence stopped him in his tracks, **"Desert Funeral" **With that, the sand around the man imploded, crushing Misumi.

-x-

Everyone up in the stands looked on in horror as Misumi exploded in a shower of blood and gore. Gaara's sand actually protected him from getting hit from the stray body matter. With a twisted smile, Gaara turned and began walking towards the stairs, recalling his sand back at the same time.

* * *

Everyone looked towards the screen, waiting to see which of the three fighters would be called up next. The screen stopped.

**Naruto (Leaf) vs Akatsuchi (Rock)**

Shikamaru smiled to himself, as Hayate cleared his voice. "Naruto of Konohagakure and Akatsuchi of Iwagakure, please proceed down to the arena."

"YEA!" Naruto yelled as he jumped down to the arena, happy at the prospect of getting to fight. Akatsuchi, in a similar display of enthusiasm, jumped down to the arena.

"As I stated earlier, we have an odd number of participants. So the last participant, Shikamaru Nara of Konohagakure, will automatically proceed to the third exam."

Shikamaru's smile widened. 'I get to advance, without having to do anything', he thought approvingly/lazily. Strategically, he also thought about the fact that he didn't have to display any of his skills in front of anyone…at least during this part of the exam that is.

Hayate then looked at the two fighters in front of him, seeing them both standing a few yards in front of each other.

The blonde jinchuuriki stared at his opponent, giving him a once over. Like his teammates he wore mostly red. However, he was much larger than either of his teammates, easily reaching Kakashi's height; and had a mass comparable to a member of the Akimichi Clan. Those two attributes made him look a few years older than either of his teammates. He wore his hitai-ate in a red bandanna, which almost completely covered his black spiky hair.

"The final fight of the preliminary rounds will be between Naruto Uzumaki and Akatsuchi Tatsumi. Hajime!"

Though Naruto visibly tensed up, neither of the fighters moved from their position. Akatsuchi took a few moments to analyze the blond before scowling, "You look like your Fourth Hokage."

Naruto had to use every ounce of his self-control to keep himself from flinching at that comment. Sarutobi, Kakashi, and Gai, the only other people to knew the truth, were forced to do the same less reveal that they knew something they didn't want others to know. With the use of some grade A acting abilities, Naruto just rose an eyebrow, "Oh?"

The rock-nin just smiled, "Then again, you guys seem to have plenty of blue-eyed blonds around here." He emphasized the statement by throwing a glance towards Ino, who actually blushed at the attention.

The blond let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding, and immediately berated himself for doing so. Luckily Akatsuchi didn't seem to notice. Akatsuchi gave off a cheeky grin and then, with speed one wouldn't expect from such a large person, quickly rushed Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly before his training kicked in. On instinct, he extended both hands and whispered his technique, "**Heavenly Subjugation**."

Akatsuchi was hit with the force of the attack and had to stop his charge to keep his balance.

Seeing that his opponent start to charge again, Naruto quickly put his hands in the cross seal, "**Shadow Clone Technique**" and created two clones in front of him. Without missing a beat, Akatsuchi smacked the first clone aside, chopped the second one before punching the real Naruto in the face. To his surprise, the third Naruto also disappeared in a puff of smoke, just like the clones. Hearing a cry above him, Akatsuchi looked up in time to see six Narutos coming down on him. The Narutos landed on Akatsuchi, slamming him into the ground. Unfortunately for the blonde(s), the Iwa-nin dissolved into a pile of mud.

**"Ninja Art:-"**

Any more dialogue was lost upon the Narutos as they looked up to see Akatsuchi appear above them. He landed, smashing some clones in the process, with the strength of a two-ton boulder, sending the rest of the Narutos away from ground zero. All of the clones disappeared and Naruto landed in a heap a few feet away. Thanks to his (un)natural stamina though, he managed to get back on his feet easy enough and made another hand seal. "**Shadow Clone Technique!"**

Ten Shadow Clones appeared between Naruto and Akatsuchi, however the latter seemed more annoyed than anything else. "This'll get annoying real fast", the large boy said scratching his head, eyes closed.

The squad of clones immediately pounced at Akatsuchi, planning to take him in his distraction. Akatsuchi's eyes snap open, he opened his mouth and regurgitates out a massive, ten foot long, arm that easily swats aside the clones in front of him.

-x-

"Ewww…" Sakura visibly paled, more than a little repulsed at the thing coming out of the ninjas mouth.

"If you think this is bad, then you're definitely in the wrong profession Sakura", Kakashi mused. Sakura just stared at her teacher in shock, to which he shrugged, "You'll see worse things than that, believe me."

Unlike his female teammate, Sasuke actually looked quite interested. Unfortunately, he'd been completely forbidden from using his Sharingan outside of his own battle…severely forbidden. So he was unable to copy, or even so much as analyze the technique. "What is that Kakashi?"

"It's called a Golem. They're like summoned creatures, but man-made."

Sasuke's headshot towards Kakashi, "You mean they actually make those things."

Kakashi nodded, "One of Iwas founding Clans makes them. They shape and create them out of rock using a number of Secret techniques."

Sakura still looked pale, "Why do they summon those things like that though?"

"We never quite figured that out. Maybe they can't summon it like a regular animal, and needed to come up with something different. Or maybe they just choose to summon them with a unique method." Kakashi's visible eye shut, giving his students an amused look. "Though I suppose it's possible that they aren't summoning at all, and that they actually just store the Golems inside of their bodies."

Sakura's eyes widened when she looked back at the battlefield. "How does something that big fit _into_ someone?"

-x-

Naruto knew that he should probably have been attacking but he was trapped in a daze. He just sat there and watched as the…thing just crawled it's way out of Akatsuchi's mouth. The fact that the _thing_ was easily three times the Iwa-nins already impressive size just made things all the more amazing.

The thing stood at full size, easily towering over both boys in the arena. There was still a _chord_ of Earth that was attached to the Golem's back and Akatsuchi's mouth…but that was severed with a click of the boy's teeth. Akatsuchi then looked past the Golem to Naruto and grinned, "You might wanna give up now-"

With speed that surprised even him, Naruto hurled a kunai straight at the Golem. Upon making contact with the creature, the kunai exploded. However, to the shock of Naruto, and most of those in the audience, the explosion barely left a scratch on the clay giant.

The blonde's eyes narrowed on the Golem, 'There goes my last explosive tag. So what else do I have that can work on solid rock?' He didn't like his prospects. He knew he wasn't strong enough to push or pull the rock. If an explosion didn't work on it, then it wasn't likely that his normal kunai would even dent it. The only thing he could think of was the fireball technique he got from Sasuke, but that technique still wasn't at a level that he could use in actual combat. If he concentrated hard and **long** enough, he could blow out three fireballs…if he was lucky. Unfortunately, he had spent more time refining his other techniques than he did working on the **Phoenix Flower**.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the Giant lift its large hand, and bring it down on his position. On instinct alone, he jumped back to avoid it. Lucky he did, because the Golems fist literally damaged the ground he had been standing on. Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw Akatsuchi standing in the same spot he had been since he summoned the Golem. 'Can he even move while controlling that thing?' He thought back to Kankuro's puppet. The puppet was just a tool, a weapon, which Kankuro had to manually control to make effective. Though the Golem was obviously on a whole other level, could it be just another tool, like the Suna-nin's puppet? As he saw the Golem prepare to take another step forward, the blond put his hands in a cross-seal. "All or nothing. **Shadow Clone technique!**" A hundred shadow clones materialized around Naruto. "Go!"

They all charged straight at the Golem. With a wave of its mighty fist, the Golem swatted ten aside with ease, and then another ten with a second swing. The rest of the clones managed to jump it. The weight and momentum of nearly eighty clones managed to make the Golem stumble and fall backwards, crashing with a deafening sound.

Naruto, ignoring both the clones and the battle with the Golem, immediately rushed straight towards Akatsuchi. After a quick hand seal, fifteen clones immediately flanked Naruto. Upon reaching striking distance, the Narutos leapt at the Iwa-nin.

For his part, Akatsuchi turned his head to the right and opened his mouth. In a moment, another large arm appeared out of his mouth, causing most of the room to look at him in shock. He then quickly whipped his head to the opposite side, easily swiping the clones, and Naruto, the side.

The clones were dispelled, but Naruto managed to land on his feet, despite feeling like he had been hit by a ton of bricks. The Konaha-nin's eyes widened when he saw Akatsuchi, sans the giant arm, appear in front of him. Flexing his arm behind his back, the Iwa-nin gave the blond a fierce uppercut, sending the boy flying up a few feet. He opened his mouth again, and the arm re-materialized and punched the airborne blond.

The blond crashed into the ground with a heap.

-x-

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed.

Even Sasuke flinched at seeing his teammate's state. That had to have broken a few bones. He watched the blond start hacking and coughing up blood.

Kakashi looked down at the blond in front of him. From the side, Gai glanced at the masked ninja and frowned before turning back. Few people probably noticed how Kakashi's fist clenched around the railing.

-x-

Naruto's through fits of coughing that left him red in the face, the blond managed to slowly open his eyes. He immediately clenched them again when he felt something enter his mind. All of his clones had been dispelled. Even now, through the pain filled haze he could hear the Golem begin to rise.

The blond managed to flip himself over, and he struggled to get to his knees, feeling pain from all over his chest. By the time he got to his knees, the Golem had fully risen. Naruto raised his hand to his mouth and wiped the blood away.

Off to the side, he heard the Iwa-nin chuckle to himself mostly.

Close by, Hayate coughed rather loudly, "I think we're finished."

Naruto's eyes widened and he turned to glare at the man, "I'm not done yet!"

Hayate looked down at the boy in front of him, "Can you even stand."

The blond clenched his teeth and immediately proved that he could, in fact, still stand. His knees were shaking though. It was obviously taking most of his physical strength to do so though.

Hayate frowned and looked towards the Hokage, who merely waved off any complaint.

Akatsuchi just grinned at the blond, "You should know when to quit."

"Shut up!" the blond snapped.

"Kick his ass Aka!" Akatsuchi's female teammate called out from the railing.

Hearing the massive footsteps of the Golem behind him made Naruto's heart drop. He looked, through blurry eyes, at his blood soaked hand.

"NARUTO MOVE!"

He'd long since discarded the idea that the Golem was a mere tool. Akatsuchi had one out, and seemingly had one in reserve.

"MOVE YOU IDIOT!"

It didn't matter though…he wasn't the only one who knew how to summon. Naruto went through the hand seals, remembering what it was like to have the Kyuubi's power temporarily coursing through him.

"NARUTO!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed when he saw Akatsuchi just stand there, looking at him with amusement. He'd wipe that smirk off his face. He had already lost one fight because he held back…he wouldn't lose a second one. **"Summoning Technique: Earth, Storm and Fire**!"

An explosion of smoke surrounded Naruto and three forms surrounded him.

"EARTH"

"Storm…"

"AND FIRRRREEEEEE!

-x-

The reaction to Naruto's latest technique varied across the room. Most looked on in shock.

One person looked at the blond with both loathing and jealousy. Sasuke could only stare and wonder how the blond managed to get a Summoning Contract.

Kakashi was in shocked, but that was quickly replaced with understanding. He only knew one person who held that particular contract. Or at least he knew of them. He remembered his old sensei speaking of her as one of the few people he respected unconditionally, which was funny because he didn't even respect Jiraiya unconditionally. It explained where Naruto may have learned a few of his more colorful techniques. After thinking about it, it made sense that the boy was receiving training, or _had_ received training, from an outside source.

Hiruzen, on the other hand, looked at the trio of Pandaren with other loathing. Naruto was one step closer to Kreia, and one more step away from him. He was running out of time.

-x-

"Well that looks interesting", Fire commented, staring straight at the Golem.

Storm was looking at the ninja in front of him, one hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Lemme guess…had a wild time with his sister?" he asked, gesturing towards the Iwa-nin.

The comment even caught Akatsuchi off guard. Naruto, for his part, could only blush at it. "What! No!"

Storm's eyes narrowed, "Mother?"

His blush darkened, "NO!"

"Fire, Storm, take out the kid. I got the Golem?" Earth commented, raising his hammer.

Fire turned back, "Is that what that thing is?"

"Hmmm…" Earth crouched for a moment, before leaping at the Golem. He raised his hammer, saw the Golem raise it's hand to block, and smashed the weapon down. Though the manipulated clay/earth didn't break, it did crack under the strength of the hit.

On the other side, Storm and Fire rushed Akatsuchi.

Eyes wide, the Iwa-nin opened his mouth and allowed the giant's fist to pop out of his mouth again, but both Pandas managed to dance around it. Flames immolated around Fire's swords. Storm's hands began crackling with electricity.

Naruto immediately put his hands in a cross seal, but dropped the sign just as quickly when his vision began to blur even more. The direct hit from the Golem, the one Akatsuchi _hadn't_ completely summoned yet, had really did a number on him. On instinct alone, he knew that Earth was still fighting the Golem. He knew that Storm and Fire finished their fight though, when Storm sent an electrical current into the Iwa-nin, more than enough to knock him out. He heard Akatsuchi fall to the ground in a small thud, and his Golem disappear a moment later.

Relief washed over the Blond Jinchuuriki. Relief that was immediately replaced with shame. He made a snap judgment, and immediately acted upon it without thinking it through. The gambit nearly cost him the match…it would have cost him his life in a real life situation. He also had given up one of his secret techniques, his Summoning Contract. What's worse was that he had been essentially forced to allow his familiars fight for him…as opposed to Akatsuchi who had fought side by side with his.

It was…humiliating.

"The winner is Naruto", he heard Hayate call out from the side.

The blond turned when he felt a hand/paw on his shoulder. He looked up to see Earth kneeling beside him. "Call us later, we'll talk."

With that, the trio of Pandas immediately disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The blond groaned and tried to stand, finding it much easier to do so. He momentarily wondered what Earth had wanted to talk about. He remembered that EVERY time he summoned one of the Pandaren, he would be evaluated…he just knew that this recent battle wasn't a point in his favor. He just prayed they didn't abandon him from this match alone.

"Okay, everyone who's left, get your asses down to the arena", the proctor of the second exam, Anko, said as she jumped down to ground level. In a matter of moments, the twelve remaining participants arrived in front of her. Hayate, as well as three other proctors, all flanked her. The purple haired woman gestured for one of the proctors to move forward, a proctor holding a bucket. "We're first going to decide who will fight who during the finals. The bucket has twelve pieces of paper, each with numbers on it. Now, each of you get in line and draw a piece."

One by one, each of the participants reached into the bucket and drew one piece of paper.

Once they were done, Anko went over to a nearby chalkboard, "Tell us your numbers."

"Number 10!" (Lee)

"I got 8." (Kankuro)

"Number 1!" (Naruto)

"3" (Neji)

"5" (Temari)

"9" (Sasuke)

"6" (Shikamaru)

"4" (Shino)

"Number 12" (Dosu)

"I got number 7" (Ino)

"11" (Gaara)

"Number 2" (Kurotsuchi)

Anko nodded, taking everything in. "Alright then. Then in this order: Match one will be between: Naruto vs Kurotsuchi"

"Match two will be between: Neji vs Shino"

"Match three will be between: Temari vs Shikamaru"

"Match four will be between: Ino vs Kankuro"

"Match five will be between: Sasuke vs Lee"

"and Match six will be between: Gaara vs Dosu"

Kakashi frowned as he looked at the board.

"As you all know, all of your possible opponents have seen your abilities", the Hokage began, walking forward to get everyone's attention. His statement wasn't _exactly_ true though. It was obvious that some of the participants were holding back. And then there was Shikamaru, who didn't even fight. "The finals will be held in exactly one month. Use this time to develop new techniques and tactics, for your upcoming fights. Use this time to develop strategies against not only your opponents, but the ones you may face after your first battle. Now, are there any questions?"

Shikamaru raised his hand, and the Hokage gave him a small nod. "So, is the winner of the finals going to become a Chunin?"

Hiruzen shook his head, "No, not at all. You see, proctors, as well as certain delegates that will to watch the exams, will decide the ones who graduate to Chunin. Winning the finals just means you had more chances to show off your skills for the judges. It's possible that most of you will become Chunin, win or lose. It's even possible that _none_ of you will become Chunin." Finishing his statement, he turned to the participants, waiting for another question.

Temari raised her hand, "What's going to happen during the finals. After the first two rounds, assuming there are no ties, it looks like there'll be three combatants at the end. How is that going to work?" Obviously, she was asking if one of the last three was going to get another bi, like Shikamaru did during the prelims.

"If we do have three combatants during the third round, it's highly likely that we will have a three person free for all", Hiruzen replied. Once again, he waited for any questions. He got none. "If there are no more questions, I wish you all good luck."

* * *

The remaining two Iwa-nins, Kurotsuchi and the team's sensei, walked out of the arena, stormed out in the case of the former. They had planned to visit the clinic to learn the status on their two comrades.

Kurotsuchi looked to be on a warpath. He sensei actually looked at her with more than a bit of amusement. "You should try to relax."

"That was bullshit!" the girl seethed. "He brought out a bunch of fucking summons to fight his battle for him like a little bitch!"

The older woman shrugged at her charge. "To be fair, the kid only brought them out when he was about to lose the fight. He also looked ready to keep fighting…he just nearly dropped when he tried to."

"Bullshit!"

The team's sensei chuckled, "A summon is considered an extension of the user. It's a perfectly legit way to win a match. And do mind your profession; having honor and being _fair_ will get you killed on the battlefield."

Kurotsuchi took a moment to digest the words, before narrowing her eyes. "Not having honor will get _him_ killed, in one month!" she spat that last word out.

The older woman chuckled again. "Now that's the kinda attitude I like to see."

* * *

**A/N: Naruto has a target on his back. Can he win against an opponent he knows virtually little about? We'll see.**

**I gotta wonder about the Uchiha Clan during these Chunin exams. Most of them would be fine, but those held in Konoha would be another story altogether. What's to stop random Uchiha from sitting in the audience and stealing the techniques of the participants. Sure, most of them would probably be Genin level Jutsu…but they're still Justu from other villages.**

**I gotta imagine that the Exams have rules in place to prevent that. Which is what I did here when Sasuke was forbidden from using his Sharingan, while he was in the catwalks. While fighting…everything is fair game though. They were just thoughts I had for a while and never got to implement. After all, Sasuke leaves the arena after the first fight (his fight) and doesn't show up for the finals (supposedly) until his fight, which is when everything goes to hell.**

**Anyway, for fans of the story, let me know what you think.**


	8. Allyourbasearebelongtous

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**A/N: Most of you weren't pleased with my last chapter (hell it shows through I the reviews). Frankly, I wasn't too pleased either, but it had to be done. I hope to at least redeem myself with this chapter. Let me know what you think.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Allyourbasearebelongtous (A/N: Yea…I went there)**

Kakashi was having a tough day. He had two students in the finals, and both of them were up against maniacs. Well…that wasn't exactly fair. Despite his personal opinion of Gai and his outrageous teaching methods, he was sure that Lee was very well adjusted. He was actually more concerned of Sasuke's opponent after the Uchiha beat Lee, now that one was a maniac. Gaara killed an elder Genin, quickly and without remorse. From what little he saw, and heard, of the boy's abilities, he knew Gaara had some kind of barrier of sand, that always seemed to protect him. Sasuke would need something capable of piercing that shield if he had any hope of defeating Gaara.

Then there was Naruto's first opponent, the granddaughter of the current Tsuchikage. If looks could kill, not even Naruto's supernatural regeneration would have saved him from that last look she sent him. He would need to make sure he knew what he was getting into…or possibly teach him when to fold to a pissed off woman. 'Hmmm, maybe I should get Anko to tutor him for a while. She does owe me a favor…' Then again, it seemed like Naruto was already receiving his own instruction, so he probably didn't even need to worry about the boy.

Kakashi entered the hospital. He had taken both Naruto and Sasuke there for a check up. Naruto to make sure he didn't break anything, which he probably did, during his fight with Akatsuchi. He dropped off Sasuke to make sure the cursed seal, and the evil containment seal, weren't having an adverse affect on his body, which they probably weren't, but better safe than sorry. He specifically told them not to release either of the boys until he got back. Kakashi smiled behind his mask when he saw Sasuke impatiently pacing around the waiting room. The Jounin immediately made his way to the help desk.

"About damn time you showed up, they won't let me _leave_!" the boy seethed, glaring at his sensei.

Kakashi just shrugged the comment off. He figured the hospital's security, which ranged anywhere from Chunin to Jounin, was what was really keeping the boy here, not his own orders. Kakashi just turned to the secretary at the counter, "I'm here to check out Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki." After thinking it over for a moment, he decided to ask, "Actually, is Naruto even okay to _be_ checked out?"

The man scowled at the mention of Naruto, and quickly jotted something down, "Uchiha-san is free to go. Uzumaki was released an hour ago."

"WHAT!" Sasuke yelled. He had been detained for over an hour after his stupid check up and Naruto, who was actually hurt during his fight, was let go almost immediately. What the hell was that?

For his part, Kakashi just glared at the Orderly. Now he had to go around town looking for the boy…an issue that he had specifically been trying to avoid. He momentarily considered putting the man in a Genjutsu. Could he get away with a self-defense plead? If not, he'd probably get fined pretty heavily for doing so. Kakashi just shook his head and turned to Sasuke, "Go get packed."

"Huh?"

"We'll be leaving the village for a while, go get packed and meet me at the Northern gate."

Sasuke nodded and left.

"And do me a favor." Kakashi turned to look at the civilian, who had an arrogant smirk on his face. "Next time you decide that thing needs a checkup, take him to another hospital. Preferably one in a different country."

Kakashi closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He counted backwards (10 books of porn…9 books of porn…). He tried to think of happier things (porn). He tried to think of his happy place (a mansion full of porn). He then cut out the middleman and just thought about porn… In the end, all the exercises he learned to calm himself down were rendered moot. 'Okay so the man sent Naruto away to…weaken the seal on the Kyuubi or something…and was probably trying to take over the village.' Kakashi nodded at his _explanation_. 'Perfect', Kakashi looked at the man before raising his headband from over his **Sharingan**, "Hey, I know you're not a doctor…but could you take a look at my eye for a moment?"

All else failed, he could afford a little fine.

* * *

-x-

"Alright, here ya go Naruto."

The boy grinned, "Thanks Ayame, you're the best." He lifted the large bag in his arms and turned away for his favorite restaurant. He stopped when he came face to face with Ino. "Ino?"

"Oh, hey Naruto?" She looked down at his arms and gave him a small smile. "What a coincidence, I came to get a to go order too."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. "At Ichiraku?"

Ino nodded her head in annoyance, "Yea…obviously."

The blond jinchuuriki just stared at her for a moment before asking, "Since when are you into anything that's cool?"

Ino's eye twitched at the comment. "First off. Ramen. Isn't. Cool."

"Yes it is", Ayame called from behind the counter.

"Don't encourage him!" Ino snapped at the other girl. It was that point that she noticed Naruto walking away with his order. "Hey!" Naruto stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Ino. "You asked me a question, aren't you gonna wait to actually hear my answer?"

Naruto shook his head, "Tell me later, I got somewhere to be." And with that, the blond took off.

Ino's eye began to twitch again. Ayame's laughter did nothing to help her bad mood. Ino turned to glare at the girl, "Stop that!"

At a quick pace, it took Naruto a good twenty minutes to reach Yakumo's house. After thinking back to his conversation with Yakumo, he quickly remembered the girl's situation and began looking around the house. He expected to be stopped by some ANBU who would be guarding the area, since, how he understood it, Yakumo was essentially forced to stay here. He wasn't though. Maybe the ANBU only prevented her from leaving, but didn't prevent people from visiting her? That would make sense. If they wanted to really make her a prisoner, they'd probably just put her in a jail cell or something…not just isolate her.

The blond shrugged, and made his way to the door.

* * *

-x-

"Ino!" the girl's father called.

Ino sighed before making her way to her father's study. "Can't be home for five seconds without someone needing something", she grumbled. Upon entering her father's office, Ino was immediately met at the door by her father. "What's up dad?"

Inoichi frowned, "I just heard a rumor about your old classmate Naruto."

The girl frowned at the name. She was still kinda annoyed at him for ditching her. "What about him?"

"I heard he used a summoning contract at the Chunin Exams. Is that true?"

Ino nodded. "Actually yea. He summoned three white bears, and they helped him fight off his opponent…who had summoned a stone giant." Ino frowned. She did NOT have the abilities needed to survive some fighting some of the people in this exam. Hopefully, that would soon change.

Inoichi nodded. "Thank you sweetie." With that, Inoichi turned away from the girl without a second word.

Frowning at her father's attitude, Ino just turned and left his office.

* * *

-x-

"Thanks for visiting me Naruto-kun, but I wished you had come at a different time."

Naruto frowned at the girl. She looked worse than she did the last time he visited. Just so frail and pale. "Are you sick?" He knew the girl wasn't in the best of health, but he wondered how often she saw a doctor.

"I'm fine, just tired really" the girl yawned out. "I was doing some chakra control exercises earlier, and I think I might have pushed myself too much." Though she looked as pale as she normally did, there was some red in her cheeks, as well as a light coat of sweat. Whatever exercise she did, it must have been a physical one. "I was honestly about to take a nap before you came by."

"Sorry", Naruto said, more than a bit sheepish.

"Don't be, I appreciate the company", she said with a smile.

Naruto looked down at his bowl of ramen. He couldn't imagine what it was like to be tired all the time; probably because it always took him so long to just get a little winded…by the standards of other people at least. "What kind of chakra control exercise were you doing?"

"Walking on water."

Naruto's face scrunched up. "Never heard of that one. Is it hard?"

Yakumo shook her head. "It's just physically demanding", the girl frowned for a moment, "at least for me", she whispered the last part bitterly. The thought of her poor vitality always did make her bitter. If things had been different, maybe she could have been the star her clan had wanted her to be. Maybe her parents wouldn't have died. What if…

"I remember learning the leaf floating exercise, back in the Academy. Oh, and there was the tree climbing one that my sensei taught me."

"The water walking exercise is actually the next stage, right after the tree climbing exercise."

"Could you teach me?"

Yakumo actually giggled at the puppy dog eyes the boy was shooting her way. "Another time", she yawned out. She had been doing that a lot since he had arrive. That last one might be his cue to let the poor girl get some sleep. "When I'm not so tired. I'll try to keep my strength up for the next time you visit me."

The blond nodded and got up from the surprisingly comfortable wooden chair. They both had finished their meals, and he needed to figure out what he was going to do for this next month.

* * *

-x-

Naruto had sat down at team seven's training ground. He was immediately contacted by his first real sensei.

The blond sighed, 'Master…' Once again, shame washed over him. He had faced an opponent that he truly had no way of countering, and had relied on others to fight his battle for him. He knew this was what Runa meant when she warned him that overuse of the contract could lead him to be unable to stand on his own feet. He truly didn't know what to say for himself, 'I'm sorry…'

"_As you should be."_ Naruto flinched at her words. _"But I believe you understand your mistake well enough and allowances can be made for both youth and inexperience. The real question is: what will you do now?"_

Naruto's eyes hardened, "I'll get stronger."

"_Don't speak out loud"_, the telepath scolded, earning another apology from the boy. _"However, your answer was adequate, if not simple."_

'Can you help me?'

"_I'm afraid my attention will be elsewhere for the duration of this month."_

Naruto frowned at that, 'Oh'

"_Consider this your next test though."_ Naruto perked up at that. If nothing else, they may be a way he could redeem himself in his Master's eyes. _"You have everything you need to get past this test. You have the skills necessary; you simply must refine them to perfection. You have three allies that will be willing to work with you, to spar with you. And you also have a young lady who may be willing to train you in how to withstand attacks of the mind."_ Naruto immediately thought back to Yakumo. He wondered if she would really be willing to help him train for the exams. While he didn't particularly care for Genjutsu, he also knew he would have to learn it eventually to keep his strengths up. At the very least, like Runa-sensei said, he may be able to learn how to resist illusions. Or even if she didn't want to help him train, he figured he could at least provide the girl with some company. She always seemed so lonely.

"_So your next test is simple: win the Chunin Exams. If you succeed, under these conditions, then you will be ready for the next part of my training."_

Naruto immediately remembered the Hokage's words. Even if he did beat everyone in the finals, there was still a good chance he wouldn't advance in rank. 'You want me to become a Chunin?'

_"A pretty title, but that is all it is. I simply want you to defeat every opponent they put against you."_

Naruto smiled at that. He could do that. Becoming a Chunin was harder. Becoming a Chunin meant that he had to impress some random judges, that for all he knew probably hated his guts. But this was easy…well not necessarily easy, but at least more simple. He simply had to have the ability to beat every person that stood against him. 'I'll win.'

_"Good. I'll be looking forward to it."_

The blond immediately rose to his feet. Without Runa to plan a decent training plan for him, he'd need to do so himself. He had a month to train and become strong enough to beat everyone in the finals, which meant approximately fighting three battles within short intervals. First things first, he'd call on the Panda trio and ask them to help him train…and hope they didn't think little of him. He raised his thumb to his mouth, planning to draw blood to perform a summoning…

* * *

-x-

"Hokage-sama!"

Hiruzen looked up to see an ANBU appear in his office, standing at attention. The old man smiled at the masked young man. "Ah, Cat. Thank you for coming so quickly." The man was nothing, if not a professional. Most people said he had taken a chance even allowing the young man to live; most would say he made the correct bet. Now he just had to make sure the last _gamble_ he made didn't turn around and bite him in the ass. "I have a mission for you and your squad. I wish for you to shadow young Uzumaki for a few weeks."

Cat nodded. "Of course sir. Is there anything specifically you wanted me to find out?"

"He used the Kyuubi's chakra to summon three creatures during the exams. I just want you to make sure he isn't doing something dangerous."

"Are we allowed to make contact?"

"If it's unavoidable."

Cat nodded. It actually wasn't uncommon for a ninja to be tailed by a member of ANBU, and it wasn't even rare for the ninja to KNOW that they were being tailed by the ANBU. Reasons normally ranged between **'we think you're a traitor'** to **'we think you'd make a good recruit'**. Naruto's case seemed to be more along the lines of **'we think you are doing something stupid/dangerous and we want to make sure you stop it'**. In that particular case, making contact and letting the _target_ know you are there could sometimes prove to be useful. Good way to put the fear of kami into them and put them on the path of…well…not doing something they and/or someone else in the village would regret later.

"Can we engage?"

"I prefer if you didn't, but I'll allow you to use your own discretion Cat."

That was actually quite a compliment, coming from the Hokage. "Of course, Hokage-sama."

* * *

-x-

**"Summoning Technique: Earth, Storm, and Fire!"**

"EARTH"

"Storm"

"And FIIIRRRREEEE!"

Naruto cringed at the introduction, especially Fire's. "Do you guys always do that?"

"Do what?" Fire asked, examining one of his swords.

"Never mind", the blond grumbled. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to question his summons' antics, especially when he supposedly had to win their respect.

Earth looked at the boy, "So what is it this time? Need us to win another match for you?"

Naruto visibly flinched at that. He blushed and immediately looked down at his feet, refusing to make eye contact. He tried to come up with some excuse, but in the end all he could say was, "Sorry…"

Seconds went by, but Naruto thought they were going by excruciatingly slowly. He wondered what they would say after that. Would they dismiss him as their summoner? Berate him? Laugh at him?

He flinched when he felt a pair of 'hands' on his shoulder. "Hey…don't worry so much about it kid." He looked up to see Storm smiling at him. "We all gotta start somewhere?"

"That's true", Earth chimed in. Naruto turned to the Panda, seeing him crossing his arms over his chest. "While I'm not impressed with _our_ first fight together…at least you're embarrassed enough to see the error of your ways." He smiled at Naruto as well. The blond suddenly felt like a weight was lift off his shoulder. So, at the very least, he still had a chance to prove his worth. "So, why is it that you summoned us?"

* * *

-x-

"Finally", Kakashi grumbled when he **finally** found his blond student. Once again, he was surrounded by those three summons of his, the same ones he used during the preliminaries. Kakashi frowned and turned away. "Well that was a huge waste of time", he grumbled.

He figured that Naruto would be spending time with his own tutor; he supposed that it just came as a bit of a shock to him. It was quite common for a student to have a teacher(s) from outside their current team…usually they were fellow clan members or family member, but another ninja wasn't such a rare occurrence. He just didn't expect Naruto to be the one to find another teacher. Either way, this was a golden opportunity. One of his students was already receiving supplemental instruction, so he could concentrate his time in teaching the other one. He just hoped the blond wouldn't become too dependent on those three.

He reached the Northern gate in record time and landed right next to Sasuke, who had apparently been waiting there for quite some time.

"Your late!" he snapped.

Kakashi actually stared at his student with a mixture of shock and amusement.

For his part, Sasuke just shrugged. "Naruto and Sakura weren't here."

Kakashi chuckled and began walking out of the gate.

"Where is Naruto, anyway?" Sasuke asked, walking beside the Jounin.

"He has other people teaching him." _People_ wasn't the exact word he wanted to use, but he didn't really want to tell the Uchiha whom Naruto was actually training with, else he may become annoyingly jealous again. "Alright, so why are we leaving the village to train?"

"It's easier."

Sasuke frowned, "Easier for what?"

"For training."

"Why will it be easier to train if we're outside the village?"

"Because we'll be outside the village."

Sasuke glared at his teacher's back, the one thought running through his mind was how had no one stabbed this man yet?

"I'm going to be training you-", hearing the older man speak instantly perked the boy up. Maybe he'd actually be taking this seriously. "-to defeat your second opponent. That Gaara kid, from Suna."

The Uchiha frowned. "My first opponent is Rock Lee though."

"Good, I was afraid you weren't paying attention."

Sasuke clenched his teeth in annoyance.

After a full minute of walking, Kakashi added, "Gaara's the bigger threat. He'll actually kill you without a second thought."

The Uchiha frowned, "I fought Rock Lee already and lost, Kakashi." It was a horrible blow to his pride, too. He was supposed to be an elite, and he lost to someone who he later found out was the bottom of his class the year before. That was like losing to Naruto. Worse was, that Lee had done it with nothing but Taijutsu and he had his Sharingan activated. And then there was the fact that the boy, apparently, couldn't even mold chakra. What kind of ninja can't even mold chakra?

"Well obviously. From what I hear, you fought someone that can use nothing but Taijutsu…with Taijutsu. Do you see where you may have gone wrong there?"

Sasuke seethed. "Alright, so what do you want me to do? Light him on fire?" Actually, that idea did seem kinda pleasant. He may be able to get rid of that green jumpsuit and his eyebrows at the same time…he'd probably be rewarded for doing a public service.

"Not at all. It isn't a good idea to light potential allies on fire. They may take it personally."

"May?"

Ignoring the boy, Kakashi continued. "Rock Lee can't mold chakra. Which means that he can't do much more than the water walking." Sasuke actually perked up at that. That was actually a skill he was interested in learning. "That also means he wouldn't be able to use most conventional methods to counter Genjutsu. So, you want to beat someone like Rock Lee easily, hit him with a Genjutsu." At this point, Kakashi turned to glare at the Uchiha. "I believe you actually have one. One you got from one of your teammates."

Sasuke actually looked away from Kakashi at that. Though he didn't know why, it wasn't like he stole it from her or something like that. "I didn't steal it."

"No, you traded it for a date, if I remember correctly." At that point, Kakashi rounded on the boy.

Sasuke paled considerably.

"I won't have my students lying to one another. So, after these exams are up, you better fulfill your end of the bargain. You better take her out on a date…and it better be a memorable and magical experience. Got it?"

You could cut the killer intent, radiating off of Kakashi, with a knife. In the end, Sasuke could only nod.

And just like that, the waves were gone, and Kakashi was back to happy…er…whatever was considered happy for a man like Kakashi. Sasuke personally thought that it was safer to say the man was crazy. "Good. So you'll use the** Heavenly Illusion: Raging Tiger, Striking Dragon: Swan flies over the waterfall in the Moonlight** on Rock Lee, and then knock him out when the Jutsu takes affect."

Sasuke nodded, still not daring to speak yet.

"For now though, we'll figure out how to deal with someone who has a permanent barrier of Sand."

They continued walking for a few minutes, before Sasuke actually dared to speak. "Out of curiosity, what does that Genjutsu do anyway?"

"Sakura never told you?"

Sasuke frowned. In truth, she probably had told him, he was just too busy to hear her explanation, seeing how he was to busy planning out how to escape her without seeming too rude. He had felt that saying, _"Hey thanks for the Jutsu, see ya later"_, would make him out to be an asshole. Definitely how he was feeling at the time though. "So what does it do?"

"It makes the target drunk…or at least think they're drunk."

Sasuke actually grinned at that. A drunk Taijutsu specialist definitely sounded appealing.

* * *

-x-

Earth looked down at the boy in front of him, his two companions off to the side somewhere. The two of them were in the same training field that Team 7 went through their 'survival exam' in. The two had just sparred with each other, which basically involved Naruto showing Earth his Taijutsu style. Both the one he commonly used and the moves he now had his clones use. That had been the first thing that Earth had wanted him to show demonstrate. Unfortunately, the Panda didn't seem too pleased with what he saw.

"Let's move on for the moment." Naruto frowned at that. "So, aside from this **Shadow Clone Jutsu**, what would you say is your strongest technique?" Earth asked.

"I haven't mastered it yet, but I think the **Phoenix Flower Jutsu** will be my strongest technique", Naruto answered, almost immediately.

"What does it do?"

"It lets me breath out a bunch of fireballs."

Earth nodded, "Let me see it." Earth gestured in the direction of a nearby lake.

Naruto grinned and went through the hand seals, "**Fire release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!**" the blond immediately blew out three small fireballs into the lake. Steam rose at the points the fire and water made contact. Naruto then turned towards Earth, expecting to see the same excitement he had over it. Unfortunately, Naruto was disappointed. "I'm pretty sure I can do more, but I haven't actually mastered the technique yet."

Earth seemingly ignored the comment, asked, "What else do you know?"

Naruto frowned, but quickly went over all his other techniques. He only had two that could supposedly be used for combat. "**Heavenly Subjugation** and **Heavenly Attraction**."

"What do they do?"

"Let's me push and pull something."

Earth nodded and pointed to off the side, "Show me on that Rock."

Naruto quickly turned to the rock that Earth had indicated. It was small, maybe about the size of a football. Definitely something he would be able to push. He extended his arm out, "**Heavenly Subjugation**." The rock was immediately blown backwards by an invisible force.

_That_ caught Earth's attention. "You didn't have to use handseals", he commented.

Naruto nodded. "Nope

"Something was different with it though. You weren't just using ordinary chakra for that technique." Naruto actually flinched at that. He really didn't like telling people about the Kyuubi. Earth nodded, "Is it the Beast?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Runa told me."

And just like that, Naruto felt like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. The thought actually made him smile, 'Trust Master Runa to think ahead like that.'

"So tell me, are you using the Beast's chakra?"

Naruto nodded, oddly feeling like he was a child who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "It's called the pulse. I use a small amount of the Kyuubi's chakra, and that let's me use Gravity to push or pull things." As an afterthought, he decided to add, "I can't use it without the Kyuubi's chakra."

Earth thought about it for a moment. "Do you use the _Kyuubi's_ chakra, this pulse, for anything else?"

Naruto nodded, "I use it to summon." The blond frowned at that thought. "But it isn't really the same. I actually link myself to the Fox's chakra, use the jutsu, and then cut it off after I'm done." As an after thought, he decided to add, "Master Runa says I can be taken over if I decide to try and draw out too much chakra."

"What's it called?"

"Huh?"

"You called what you do with the Heavenly techniques, _the pulse_. Do you have a name for what you do when you link directly to the Kyuubi?"

Naruto frowned, but shook his head. "Master Runa just called it the next step up from the pulse."

Earth turned away from him, "Then we'll call it the link, for the sake of simplicity." At that, Earth actually took a pause, as if sensing something. Naruto noticed him raise his arm up and make a hand sign before lowering it.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow, "Is something wrong?"

The Panda just shook his head, "Probably not. Now", Earth pointed to another rock, much larger than the last one, sitting by a nearby tree. "Let me see what that can do?"

Naruto nodded and extended his arm. He thought about it for moment. Establishing the, newly named, _link_ had become something of a habit of his ever since Runa first taught him how to Summon. Something akin to muscle memory. Using the link, without going through the actual Summoning process, caused him to have to think about it for a moment. After about a minute, he was able to mentally separate that particular process from the rest of the jutsu, and established the link with to the Kyuubi…feeling the familiar feeling of drawing the fox's chakra. After that he aimed, attacked, "**Heavenly Subjugation**", and watched as, not only the rock, but the whole tree uprooted itself and fell over…as did the six other trees surrounding it.

And then he fell to his knees.

"Naruto!"

Earth and Fire were at his side in moments.

* * *

-x-

"Oh, shit!" An ANBU hidden in the trees whispered. He wore a Tiger mask.

Another ANBU, one wearing a Rabbit mask, nodded. This one was noticeably the only female in the group of three.

The third ANBU, who wore a Cat mask, added, "Pretty powerful for a technique that didn't even require any seals." After an afterthought he bitterly thought, 'I'm gonna have to regrow those later.'

"I'm sure our leader agrees." The three ANBU turned to see the blue-clothed Panda join them on a tree branch. Tiger actually flinched at being caught spying; an action that earned him a harsh stare from Rabbit. "Yo, I'm Storm. You guys want some ale?" The Panda held out a small bottle of, what Cat presumed to be an alcoholic beverage.

"Hello to you Storm-san, you may call me Cat", the ANBU stated out. "My companions are", He pointed at the girl, "Rabbit", he then pointed to the last one, "and Tiger." Cat then took a moment to look at the Panda's outstretched hand. "You'll excuse me if I decline your offer, though. We're not permitted to drink on duty."

"Oh, no hard feelings", Storm commented, before taking a swig of the bottle himself. "I gotta ask…why are you spying on us?"

"That's classified I'm afraid."

Storm nodded, turning fully to Cat who he, correctly, guessed was the leader. "Any idea when you're going to stop."

"The very moment we are told to do so."

Storm nodded. "I understand. Just kinda annoying, ya know?"

Cat just shrugged, "I apologize for that."

"Are you like, looking for a particular piece of information or something?"

Cat shook his head, "Nothing in particular, no. Though I gotta ask, and we ask this to anyone who will probably be spending a long time in Konoha: Are you a part of some secret plot to destroy the village?"

Storm actually chuckled at the question, "Has anyone ever answered _yes_ to that question?"

Cat nodded, "Actually, to my knowledge, there has been one man, and only one man, to have ever answered yes." Cat subconsciously clenched his fist, "Though that man was nine kinds of psycho."

Storm nodded.

"So, yay or nay on trying to destroy our village?"

Strom shrugged in response. "Well, I can say I'm not planning to destroy it right now. Not sure if that'll change tomorrow morning though."

"Well, I suppose the best we can hope for." Cat looked down to see Naruto finally stand up after the attack. The red clothed Panda, Fire as he understood it, had disappeared again and the boy was left with the one called Earth.

"So…" Storm began, catching the ANBUs attention again. "Just so I understand the rules; if I were to say, grab the boy and make a run for it-"

"We'd have to follow you and step in if you were to try to leave the village or actually hurt someone."

Storm nodded, "What if we found a super secret training field and hid him in it?"

"I'm almost certain that we'd find you, no matter where you decide to try and hide. I can't imagine you know this village better than we do."

A fair deduction Storm admitted. "I suppose not. Okay, what if we were to make a large distraction."

"If you do anything that causes harm to a citizen of this people, damage property, instigate terror, or in general: anything that may put this village and it's people in danger, then my colleagues and I will step in." Cat paused for a moment, before asking, "So, whom did Naruto gain this contract from?"

"Her name is Runa." Storm then began thinking over what Cat had told him. "But if we try to be sneaky without causing anyone harm, is that alright?"

Cat nodded his head. "I can't imagine you will have much success, but I suppose you're welcome to try. Hey, do you guys normally train you're summoners?"

"It's happened quite a bit in the past. Why, is this such a rare occurrence to see?"

Cat didn't answer that question, though he knew that it wasn't. He'd heard stories of Minato Namikaze training with the Toads he so frequently summoned in battle. And there were, of course, other and lesser-known summoners in the village who did the same. "Just curious, really."

Storm nodded, "Well, I should probably get out of your way. I'm sure you have better things to do than to talk to me."

"Nonsense, it was a pleasure speaking with you Storm-san."

"And you to Cat-san. Oh, and if you happen to find out when you're going to stop shadowing my boy-"

"You'll be the first I tell."

Storm nodded and stood on the branch he had been sitting on. He seemed prepared to leave when he turned back to Cat. "Hey, total hypothetical situation…if I were to hire a worker girl for a twelve year old boy, where would I go about doing that?"

"Well, first off, I think you mean a _working _girl", Cat answered almost as quickly.

"You are NOT going to buy that boy a prostitute!" Rabbit snapped, speaking to Storm directly for the first time.

"Why not?"

Rabbit turned and glared at Tiger…or at least everyone thought it was a glare. They really couldn't tell what she was doing behind that mask of hers. Cat could only sigh in embarrassment. He would have to make those two run drills, especially Tiger, for their behavior today.

"Oh of course not! How embarrassing of me to suggest such a thing" Storm said, looking not the least bit embarrassed. Cat conceded that he may just not be good at reading the facial expressions of a Panda…but he still didn't think it was embarrassed. "What I want is to buy my little buddy some _Ramen_" he made a pair of air quotes at the word Ramen. "Where can I buy my buddy some _Ramen_?"

Most of the village knew of the boy's infatuation with that particular food, which is probably why Tiger started laughing, very loudly, at that. Damn rookies. But despite himself, Cat actually cracked a grin behind his mask. Rabbit wasn't amused in the least.

"I'm afraid, you probably won't find any _Ramen_ for a twelve year old boy in this village. I'm sorry to say."

"Well damn", Storm 'childishly' kicked an invisible rock. "Well, I guess I'll stop wasting your time." And with that, Storm jumped off the tree, and into the forest floor.

"Damn…I wish I had a cool summon that would buy me _Ramen_-OWWW!" in hindsight, Tiger knew he probably should have avoided adding those air quotes. He just knew it.

Cat could only sigh. He would definitely be putting those two through some drills.

"So, I don't think the kid figured out that we were watching him. You think Storm is gonna tell him?"

Cat shrugged, "Probably." He would have preferred to not be noticed by the boy, but it really wasn't a big deal if he knew the ANBU were watching him. Heck, most ninja were tailed by ANBU at some point in their lives for one reason or another. This wasn't really a special case…even if the reasons were somewhat unique. After all, there was a reason that he was assigned to this mission. He frowned, behind his mask, when he saw Storm walk up to both Earth and Naruto.

"Here it goes", Tiger said with a sigh.

Storm leaned over and whispered something in Earth's ear. After close to a minute, Storm turned and walked into the surrounded forest.

Earth then turned and spoke with Naruto in a low tone of voice. The boy in question actually looked better than he did previously. He didn't look nearly as pale as he did when he first preformed that pushing technique.

"_What, why?_" the boy asked, clearly confused.

"_Amuse me_", Earth said before turning and following Storm into the forest.

"He didn't tell him?" Tiger asked, clearly confused.

They all watched as the boy did a very familiar hand seal. In a second, Naruto was joined by over five hundred perfect copies of himself. After a moment, they **all** began walking off in random directions…leaving behind three irate ANBU.

"Hmm, well that's a big F.U.", Tiger commented.

* * *

-x-

Earth and Naruto met each other at the training field where Naruto first summoned the Panda trio. Naruto stood before a frowning Earth, looking at the Panda in confusion, "So what was that about?"

"Someone was spying on us." In truth, the fact that they were being spied on didn't really bother Earth, aside from the minor annoyance that is. However, it was probably something that they wouldn't be able to avoid forever, especially since they were leaf ninja, like Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widened, "What, who?"

"Let Fire and Storm worry about that, we have more important things to talk about." When Naruto fell, Earth had been ready to pick the boy up and run to the nearest…whatever it was that humans called where their doctors gathered. It had taken Naruto a full minute to stand up and another twenty before he felt that he could actually use the technique again, as he recently confirmed when asked. Obviously the technique had taken a toll on the boy physically. Earth found the technique both strange and useful. On one hand, it didn't require any hand seals, which was a big bonus in his book. On the other had, he had never heard of a technique that required a _cool down_ time. The Panda stared at the seven trees that were now grounded thanks to the boy's enhanced technique. "You feel better, now then."

Naruto seemed lost in thought. He was obviously still curious about who it was that was following him.

Earth clapped his hands to get the boy's attention. "Focus Naruto!"

The blond had the decency to look mildly sheepish at being caught not paying attention. Earth repeated his question and Naruto answered, "I felt better after a minute." After that minute, he had explained the cool down period of the technique to Earth. Earth had all but demanded that he sit down and tell him when he felt he could use the technique again. It had been nearly twenty minutes. Well…at least until Earth asked him to create a bunch of Shadow Clones to lose whoever it was that had been spying on him. "But I can use it again, if that's what you're asking."

Earth nodded, "I guess I should start by telling you never to do that again."

The blond actually grinned at that though, "Oh come on, that was awesome!"

Having the strength to uproot seven, rather enormous trees, as well as pushing whatever else was in the area that was small enough to escape their notice, was pretty impressive. "Can you tell me why you have to wait after using the technique?"

Naruto shrugged, "Master Runa said I should discover that on my own."

"How long?" Earth asked, but quickly rethought his question. "I mean how long do you have to wait if you just did a standard attack?"

The blond shrugged again, "About twenty seconds."

"Can you train that down?"

Naruto nodded, "Master Runa said that if I train enough, I can lower the time and increase the strength." He actually grinned as he thought of increasing the strength of that big attack. He could probably flatten a house with that. He would have flattened that Golem if he knew he could use the jutsu with the link. He instantly scowled at the thought though. That first minute he had been barely able to move. He had just felt so nauseas and weak…he actually thought he had been about the puke. Surprised he didn't.

"Alright, then that is what we should be working on."

The blond frowned for a moment. Before seeing what that technique could do under the _link_ he probably would have been disappointed to hear that. Now though, he definitely wanted to take this technique further than he has already gone with it.

"I'm glad you agree, because there are many creative uses for that trick that you probably have considered yet. Like using it in the middle of a Taijutsu combo."

In truth, he hadn't really thought too much of it aside from knocking someone down and maybe deflecting a jutsu…and more recently leveling a Golem into the ground. Was it bad that he really wanted another shot at that damn thing?

"You ever fight someone with a really nice weapon?"

Naruto nodded, thinking back to the sword used by Zabuza.

Earth extended his arms out, then pulled it back to his body, "You say you can pull things right. Pull the weapon out of his grasp and have a clone run away with it. Just like that, you denied them of a weapon that may be important to their fight style." Earth grinned, "You could even use the weapon yourself, if you know how to." Nothing says _fuck you_ like kicking somebody's ass with their own sword.

Naruto nodded in acceptance, "So where do we start, should I just start practicing on different objects around here?" Naruto asked and actually began looking around the clearing. There were a large variety of stones all around them. Maybe if he set them up as targets. As he was looking around, he noticed that Earth had walked to the edge of the clearing.

The Panda bent down and seemed to pick something up, though Naruto couldn't see what it was. After he stood up, he began bouncing the object in his 'hand'. It was a simple rock. "Unfortunately Naruto, this is where things will probably get a bit uncomfortable." Earth put all seriousness aside, and actually gave Naruto a toothy grinned.

Naruto actually paled somewhat. Was he actually suggesting…Naruto immediately dropped to the ground, just in time to allow the rock to sail over his head.

"Oh that's good thinking. The idea was for you to stop the rock with your Heavenly techniques, but do feel free to practice dodging while you're waiting for it to be usable again. It'll be good practice for the real thing." Earth said, grabbing a rock that was easily as big as Naruto's head.

The fact that he threw it at the same speed as the small one worried Naruto.

* * *

-x-

"They say that stealth is the greatest weapon that a ninja can have. I've learned various methods to do the same myself self…to walk like the wind, so to speak. If you want to be a true shinobi, you'll have to learn this lesson yourself."

Naruto could only groan in annoyance. "Why are we here?"

Storm shrugged, "Well if you get caught, you'd be likely to get killed here. If you weren't a clone that is." He said as an afterthought. "A lot of these women have far too much muscle to not be ninja."

"But why here?"

"Why not here? Might as well enjoy the sights while you're here…not that I understand what beauty is to you humans anyway. Plus there's the fact that these woman are way skinnier than I'm used to." Storm grinned, "Give me a three hundred pound Panda any day of the week." Storm actually growled at that.

And Naruto could only cringe.

"How do you humans court each other anyway?"

"Ummm…"

"We normally start by rubbing the delicate back hair."

The clone went pale at that, "Please stop…"

And he did stop…not because of the clone's plea…but because of the loud giggle that was coming from a few meters away. Storm glared, "Hey, that guy is perving in _our_ perving spot. You can't just perv on another Panda's perving spot. We throw lightning at you for that!"

The clone groaned.

Storm made no mention of hearing the clone, he just continued glaring at the man, "It's almost time to go anyway, and you'll probably wanna dispel yourself after this."

"What are you gonna do?" he asked. He got his answer when electricity started crackling around Storm's paws.

"PERVERT!"

To both the clone and Storm's surprise, the man managed to avoid the lightning bolt, despite the fact that he had his back to them. A quick hit from Storm, and the clone dispelled. A second later, Storm disappeared in a puff of smoke himself.

Unfortunately for the man, his _targets_ heard the loud yell and were on him in seconds.

* * *

-x-

"Ah!" Naruto blinked in annoyance.

Earth frowned, "What's wrong?" The two had been walking through the forest, back to the village. Though he would have to hide, to avoid stares of the non-shinobi, the Panda had wanted to see where his young charged lived. Which is when the boy had groaned the way he did.

"Storm is a pervert…he took my clone and started spying on the hot springs."

Earth frowned at the information. "You know what your clone was doing when it dispelled?"

And just like that, a light bulb went off in Naruto's head. Most of his clones were told to go out into the forest, and then walk until their chakra ran out and they dispelled themselves naturally. So it wasn't really that big of a surprise when he received the memories of them doing just that after they dispelled. He hadn't really thought much about it. This was much different though…that clone had just gone along with Storm, without receiving any prior orders. So it was a big surprise when he received the memories, and visions, of a pretty graphic conversation. "I didn't notice it before now…" all his clones had been in his line of sight prior to this event. No actually, that wasn't true. During the fight with Aaktsuchi, he had been lying flat on his back, with his eyes closed, when his clones were dispelled. And he _knew_ they had been dispelled. "…but yea, I guess I do."

Earth smiled at the new information, filing it away under, _Explore possibilities_. Both Naruto and Earth stopped when they saw someone running towards them.

It was a man…

A very naked man…

"FREEDOM!" a very naked man that ran past the two without a second glance.

Earth blinked in confusion before asking, "That happen a lot around here?"

Naruto shook his head before turning back, "I think I know that guy."

"Friend of yours?"

"No, he's just some jerk that works at the hospital."

"Hmmm…"

It took the duo less than half an hour to reach Naruto's apartment. The moment he returned home, Earth began looking around the little apartment. "It's cozy."

The blond shrugged, "It's home." He looked around for a moment before asking, "Would you like something to eat or drink?" Naruto actually wasn't sure what he had to offer. He didn't think he had anything more than instant ramen packs…and maybe water. 'Definitely need to go shopping', the blond thought.

"No thank you, I won't be here long", Earth said, walking over to a nearby shelf. Naruto watched Earth pull a handful of stones from his pocket and place them on the shelf. He then turned back to Naruto and held up a bright red rock between his claws. "This is another exercise I want you to work on every night", Earth said before placing the red stone down amidst the many other, normal colored, rocks. "It's simple, you just have to pull the red one, without disturbing the others."

Naruto frowned. It seemed kinda silly to him.

"This exercise is mainly about control. Plus, if you can do this, it'll help you disarm someone without say…pulling their arm off in the process." Earth walked over to the side and gestured for him to begin. "Though I guess pulling their arm off would be another way to disarm them."

Naruto chuckled for a bit before extending his arm out. Though he was normally confident when faced with challenges…even he had to admit that he didn't have the best control. "**Heavenly Attraction**." Immediately, he pulled every single rock off of the shelf…and even managed to shift the shelf very noticeably.

Earth nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Keep a good distance away from the shelf. Make a clone to set the rocks back up and keep practicing." Earth commanded. As an afterthought, he decided to add, "I'm going to have a brand new training plan for you tomorrow…we'll discuss it then." And with that, Earth disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto frowned, but did as he was told. A shadow clone appeared next to him and immediately went to pick the rocks up before placing them back on the shelf. Naruto tried again, and even tried to concentrate on the red one, **Heavenly Attraction**", and came out with the same results. The clone quickly went to gather the rocks and place them back where they were supposed to go. "**Heavenly Attraction**." He had the same results. "Grraaaahh! This is stupid!" he said, scratching his head. Even worse was that he _actually_ heard his clone laughing.

"Man…you suck!"

Naruto glared at the offending Shadow Clone. "Jackass", he muttered before aiming his technique again.

* * *

-x-

Naruto woke up the next morning and went about his morning routine. After making sure he had everything he needed for today's training, including his orange jacket, which he found on a nearby table, Naruto began making his way out the door. However, the thoughts of yesterday, Earth telling him that someone was spying on him, immediately stopped him. He frowned at that thought before making his way to the bathroom, which had no windows. He quickly made a **Shadow Clone** and sent it to walk through the village.

Thirty minutes later, Naruto left his home himself and headed the opposite direction. He arrived in the same training ground Team seven used, the first training ground he and Earth had practiced in before Earth decided to move. He figured that if he was being spied on again, it would be a good idea not to let the spies know every training ground he liked to occupy. A bit of blood, establishing the link, the correct handseals, **"Summoning Technique: Earth, Storm and Fire!"**

"EARTH!"

"Storm."

"and FIRRRREEEEE!"

Naruto flinched at Fire's shrill voice.

Earth was on him in a second. "Make a clone and try using one of your Heavenly techniques."

Thinking about that, the blond immediately shook his head. "I can't."

Earth frowned. Or at least Naruto thought it looked like a frown, "Why not?"

"Just can't. Every time I've tried using one of those jutsu with a clone, it ended up failing and just dispelling my clone." Months ago, he had tried going around the _cooldown_ of the techniques by creating a clone and having them perform them. Back then, he had been so disappointed that his plan had failed.

"We'll worry about that later then. Have a clone use the **Phoenix Flower Jutsu** then."

Naruto did as he was told. The clone only managed to do about three fireballs though. The blond frowned, "Still not good enough."

Earth nodded towards Fire. The sword-wielding Panda just tapped the clone and gestured for it to follow him.

Naruto frowned. "What's going on?"

"We're going to see if you can train both techniques at the same time. You definitely have enough chakra to do both." By the end of the last night, though they had been training for quite sometime, Naruto still had plenty of chakra to spare. "When you begin to run low on chakra, Storm has a few things that he'll like to show you."

Though he already knew the answer, and it frightened him greatly, the blond decided to ask, "Are we going to be training the same way." He had gotten hit by one rock during the training yesterday…and it had hurt like hell. Honestly, he had thought that Earth was taking it easy on him afterwards, since it was the first time they were doing this training. He silently wondered how long that would last.

"Similar." Earth said, as he went to the center of the training field. We walked around the area, drawing something on the ground, with his foot. After a few moments, he finished drawing a circle into the ground, about three meters in diameter. "In today's training…you can't leave the circle."

The blond groaned.

* * *

-x-

**"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"** Naruto blew out four fireballs into a nearby lake. He grinned at what he saw. "That was the best I've done so far."

"Yea, it's a cute trick."

The blond frowned and turned back to look at Fire, "Cute?"

The Panda shrugged, "It's a nice start, but it's nothing overly impressive. You'll need to learn how to aim it properly if you ever hope to hit anything with it. Wouldn't be surprised if most people around would be able to avoid it all together, though." Fire thought that over for a moment. "Unless you plan to use it with all those clones you like to use."

Naruto's eyes immediately widened at that thought. He put his hands in a familiar cross-shaped seal, "**Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" Immediately another five clones materialized around the original one. They then all turned towards the lake and began another series of hand seals. "**Fire Release: Pheonix Flower Jutsu!**" The result was about twenty odd fireballs being shot at the lake. "THAT'S AWESOME!"

"Yea…but you're kinda missing my point kid."

Unfortunately, the blond(s) were still too engrossed in their celebration to listen to the Panda. Fire sighed and, with a quick swipe of his swords, the Naruto count was brought back down to one. That quickly put a halt to the celebration.

The clone just smiled at Fire, "Maybe I should try it with fifty?" For the sake of not broadcasting their position to everyone within a ten-mile radius, and possibly burning down a huge chunk of the surrounding forest, Fire immediately put a stop to that plan. Instead, the two immediately went to go find a more suitable training site.

They found it in the form of a large, dirt covered field. "The soil here is pretty moist, so it shouldn't catch on fire." Naruto frowned as he saw Fire pull out one of his swords and start to carve something into the earth. It was a three-foot long bull's-eye, composed of three circles. "If you plan on using the fire technique in conjunction with your clones, then you'll need to learn how to aim properly or you'll never be a serious threat." After a minute, three more bull's-eyes were drawn around the training grounds. "Alright, go stand over there and we'll test your aiming."

* * *

-x-

Several hours later

"So what do you want?" Shikaku Nara looked down at the blond man in front of him. Inoichi Yamanaka and Chouza Akimichi had been his best friends for many years. Despite his laid back attitude (read: Lazy) he knew in the bottom of his heart that he'd do just about anything for either of them. That didn't stop him from complaining about it though…if only to keep them from asking for _too_ much. "I do have a son to train." He thought about that or a moment, remembering the joke between the trio, "You have to train Ino as well, don't you?"

Inoichi nodded, still not turning to face Shikaku. "I have a cousin running Ino through some drills. This is just something I gotta do before I can concentrate on Ino. And Chouza couldn't help me", Inoichi added as an after thought.

Shikaku crouched down next to Inoichi, and looked to see whom it was that Inoichi was spying on. He recognized the boy immediately as the Uzumaki boy, the container of the Kyuubi. Shikaku frowned. "You called me into the middle of the forest spy on the Uzumaki kid?"

"You'll never guess what I heard about him. During the Chunin exams he summoned three Pandas", Inoichi commented, staring the boy down. The boy was just standing against the tree. What the hell was he waiting for?

Shikaku nodded, "I see, so he summoned Pandas…" he paused for dramatic effect, then asked, "…am I suppose to know that that means?"

Inoichi sighed, "The Panda contract belonged to my aunt, Kreia. The same one I've been trying to find for years." Inoichi frowned at that for a moment, before grumbling, "She never shared that contract with the clan."

Shikaku smirked, "You sound like a child." That earned him a glare from his long time friend. However, he was able to put two and two together. "So you think your auntie has some connection to Uzumaki?"

"Not a doubt in my mind", Inoichi said, voice full of confidence. "I'm going to use my **Mind Body Switch** and read his mind for information. I just need you to grab my body when it goes limp."

"You wanna read his mind? Why don't you just walk over to him and ask him?"

Inoichi glared at Shikaku, "You serious? I'm sure that kid hates my guts."

Shikaku frowned. The trio had never hated the boy, or thought that he was actually the Kyuubi like many people in the village seemed to. In fact, they all believed that line of thought was an insult to the Yondaime. However, that didn't stop them from keeping their children away from him, when they were still at the Academy. They didn't hate the boy; they just wanted to protect their own children, and their clans, from the possible repercussions of associating with the 'Kyuubi kid'. Despite all of that, it wouldn't be the first time he had seen the boy associate with those that had previously hated him…that sensei of his from the Academy being the prime example. Heck, he doubted the boy even knew of their actions, and decided to voice this to his friend.

Inoichi sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Oh, he remembers me. I'm sure of it." At Shikaku's look, he decided to explain. "A few years back, I saw him playing alone with Ino and her pink-haired friend. People were sending odd looks their way. I was upset that Ino had disobeyed me, but I took it out on him. I-" the man sighed. Whatever happened, he obviously regretted it. "I yelled at the kid…made a huge scene. I'm sure he remembers me."

Shikaku sighed, "Kami, Inoichi."

"I know, I know. I always feel like shit whenever I think about it."

"Well, nothing says I'm sorry like mind-jacking someone's body."

Inoichi frowned, "I'll do something nice for the kid."

"Like what?"

Inoichi shrugged, "At this point, I'd be willing to vote for him to be the next Hokage."

"Well we both know that isn't going to happen anytime soon, so what else do you got?"

Inoichi glared at the Nara, "What are you the kid's negotiator?" Shikaku shrugged, but then gestured to the clearing. Inoichi turned, just as a Panda, in a blue outfit, came into view and stood next to Naruto.

-x-

Naruto wasn't tired yet, despite the fact that he lost a good portion of his charka with all the training he had done earlier. Though he was curious to see what Storm was supposed to teach him.

Storm looked down at the boy. "This is a good path."

Naruto glanced at the Panda in front of him, "You still haven't told me what kind of training this is."

"Awareness training." Storm paused for a moment. A very long moment. "Earth wanted to test you and see if you are, what you humans call, a sensor. If so, we'll teach you how to use that to your advantage."

-x-

"I think he saw us."

Inoichi shook his head. "I don't think so, he didn't even look our way."

Shikaku frowned. That pause was NOT a coincidence…especially not after talking about awareness training. "Want me to bind their shadows?"

"Nah, this should be an easy enough target", he said as he placed his hands in the Yamanaka signature seal.

"You're gonna try to hit a moving target?"

Inoichi scoffed, "I've hit targets at greater distances, and they were actually aware of my presence. Come on Shikaku, you know I haven't missed in years." The blond man smirked, "I have the longest standing record, of any Yamanaka, for never missing a target."

-x-

"So you think I'm a sensor?" Naruto asked, still not quite sure what one of them was.

Storm just shrugged, "Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if you aren't. Unlike Pandas, and most animals, being a sensor is rare in humans-." Storm paused, quickly reached over and pushed Naruto down.

"AHH!"

Strangely enough, Storm seemed to watch the area that Naruto had just occupied. He seemed to turn his head from the left to the right…as if watching something pass by.

Naruto quickly jumped to his feet and leveled Storm with a fierce glare, "What the hell was that for?"

Storm smiled, "Sorry, thought I saw a spider." The Panda said brushing some dirt off of the boy's jacket.

-x-

Back with the two elder ninja, Shikaku could only sigh as he glanced down at Inoichi's limp body. "So much for the record."

* * *

-x-

It had taken the group of Iwa-nins a few days to make it back to Earth country. Upon reaching the familiar landscape they immediately headed towards a fortress that bordered Grass Country, the country that separated Earth and Fire. They would be training there, instead of heading all the way towards Iwa. From the message the group had gotten, the Tsuchikage would be heading to the fortress in a few weeks and, together, they would make their way back to Konoha for the finals.

Their sensei, Kaede, turned to the two boys on the team. " You two go take a nap or something…you need it after losing so spectacularly." They were both understandably embarrassed by there loss. Kaede turned towards her female student and gestured for her to follow her.

"You should go easy on Akatsuchi." Yosuke was an idiot for trying to hold back against a superior opponent. Akatsuchi, she felt, was still cheated out of the win he definitely deserved.

"You better worry about yourself", Kaede responded. The two of them walked into a large, private, training room. "You'll need it after what I'm going to put you through."

"I disagree."

Both Kaede and Kurotsuchi turned to the third voice in the room. It was an old man. Red hair and beard. He had on a strange purple outfit and a brown helmet that somewhat resembled a crown in shape.

Kurotsuchi smiled at the old man, "Master Roshi." She then frowned when she noted something on his back. "Are you wearing a turtle shell on your back?"

Roshi grunted before slipping the straps off of his back and dropping the heavy _turtle shell_ on the ground. "It's a training weight."

"What are you doing here Roshi?" Kaede said with a frown.

"I'll be taking over Kuro-chans training for the remainder of this month."

"Don't call me Kuro-chan!"

Kaede just glared at the old man, ignoring her student's words. "I can teach her just fine on my own."

"No doubt", Roshi replied, hoping to stave off an argument. He knew that Kaede wasn't one of the people who were particularly fond of him. Roshi held up an arm and began concentrating his chakra. In just under four second, a red and orange kunai had materialized in Roshi's hand. This was the reason he was nicknamed Yoton no Roshi (Roshi of the Lava Release). He immediately threw it to the side, hitting a training dummy directly in the heart. The Lava immediately spread and began consuming the dummy in red hot flames and molten rock. It literally melted into the ground. Throughout the demonstration, Roshi's eyes never left Kaede's, "But there are some things that I can teach her and that you can't."

The older woman glared at the demon container before scoffing. "Fine. Kurotsuchi, you're with Roshi for the remainder of the month. I wish you both the best of luck." With that, Kaede turned and headed out of the training room.

* * *

-x-

A few days later, found Naruto in the same position. He had just finished training with both Earth and Fire, and now he would be seeing what Storm had to teach him this time. Sadly, he had been confirmed to _not_ be a sensor…so that had been a waste of time. This time, Storm was supposed to be helping him with his Taijutsu though, so he was much more excited at the prospects.

Hearing the Panda's approach, for he once again went to scout the surrounding area, Naruto turned to see Storm walking up to him. He could only stare at the Panda in shock; or, to be more specific, what the Panda was holding. "What the heck is that?"

Storm held the creature up, as if presenting it to Naruto. "It's a platypus."

Quack

Naruto just stared at the thing. "I've never seen one of those before."

Storm shrugged as he held the creature in the crook of his arm and pet it with the opposite hand.

"Why did you pick it up?"

Storm shrugged again before whispering, "I'm gonna use it in a sec." He ignored Naruto's questioning gaze and gestured towards the area he had just come from. "So Earth said you learned how to be a berserker from a scroll. Did you bring the scroll with you?"

Naruto nodded and the scroll up.

Storm gestured the blond over, "Good, we'll go through a spar and see if I can add any moves to the form.

Naruto moved to follow…but immediately stopped. His eyes widened. He was stuck. He couldn't move at all. From the looks of it, Storm was having the same problem. He seemed to be struggling very hard under some invisible force that was constricting the two. Suddenly Storm's arm extended to the left and behind Naruto…holding the platypus just behind the boy's back. Strangely enough, Naruto's arm extended in exactly the same way. "What the?"

Quack

Naruto frowned. Suddenly he stumbled. Whatever it was that was holding him had suddenly let go. He looked back to see Storm chuckling quietly to himself before carefully placing the platypus on the ground. It waddled off on it's own. "What the hell was that?"

Storm shrugged before gesturing in the direction the two were supposed to be walking towards.

-x-

Somewhere behind the two, Shikaku stared down at the limp body of his friend and at the creature that just appeared before him…his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Yamanaka's did NOT posses animals under ANY circumstances. Fact is, there were only three ways for a Yamanaka to _detach_ themselves from a target. The first was a simple hand seal, quick and easy. The second method, which was a bit more advanced, was a verbal command; very useful in case the possessed persons hands were otherwise busy. The third and final method was for the Yamanaka to run out of chakra.

Obviously, a Yamanaka who possessed an animal would not be able to use either of the first two methods to get out of the boy…which left him with the last one. And with Inoichi's reserves, that could very well take hours to actually happen.

So to summarize the mission so far: they had just lost the boy twice, spent five days looking for him (or at least whatever free time they could afford during those five days), had yet to get the information that Inoichi so disparately wanted, and now his friend was in the body of a platypus. In the end, Shikaku could only think of one thing to say about all of this: **"Troublesome."**

Quack

-x-

Having no desire to stay in the forest for a few hours, protecting his friend from any danger, Shikaku decided to make his way to his Inoichi's home. It was possible one of the Yamanakas had _some_ way to get Inoichi out of his current position. If nothing else though, he could trust them with Inoichi's body, plus platypus.

So, Shikaku started the _long_ walk home, platypus in one hand and his friends collar in the other. Inoichi's body was being dragged, rather unceremoniously along the road. While he probably could have shinobi traveled through the rooftops. Unfortunately, doing so would have meant that he leave his friend turned platypus behind. Small animals, especially ones unaccustomed to traveling in such a manner, did very poorly in the hands of someone who jumped between rooftops.

So Shikaku was stuck dragging the body along the dirt.

Quack

It didn't help that people were staring at him.

Quack

Nor that his friend was really heavy. "You need to go on a diet."

Quack quack quack.

"Can't believe we've wasted so much time on this."

Quack

Shikaku looked down to glare at the platypus in his arm, "Next time you have a target that isn't moving…how about you actually hit him, eh Inoichi." Shikaku's eyes suddenly widened as pain suddenly erupted in his hand. "AAHHHH!" His scream didn't help the whole people are staring thing. Neither did the fact that he had just dropped Inoichi's body. Luckily for the blond man, Shikaku didn't drop the platypus. He just held it in both hands, making sure to keep his hands away from it's hind legs or, to be more specific, its rather painful venom filled spur. "Did you just sting me?"

Quack

Shikaku glared at the thing, looking into it's eyes, "You just freaking stung me!" Shikaku actually shook the platypus at that.

Quack quack quack

"You know what, you're a real asshole Inoichi!" And so he called the platypus an asshole…and the people around him called for the ANBU…

After a few moments things suddenly became, in Shikaku's professional opinion, **Troublesome**.

* * *

**End**

**Omake: I don't think we're following the right one.**

Naruto had been sitting in the park for hours, doing nothing but laying on the grass.

In the nearby trees, a group of ANBU had been watching him. Tiger turned to his leader. "I don't think we're following the right one."

Cat grunted.

-x-

The next day, Naruto was playing with some kids, the Hokage's grandson amongst them.

Though not unusual for the boy, the ANBU doubted that he would be doing so during the training month. Tiger turned to his leader, "I don't think we're following the right one."

Cat grunted.

-x-

The next day they followed Naruto, who had met up with Storm, to the hotsprings. The two had been sitting there for a while, just peeking on the woman.

Tiger turned to his leader, "I don't think we're following the right one…but can we please stay?"

An irate Rabbit then tossed tiger into the woman's side of the hotsprings.

Cat just grunted.

* * *

**A/N: Not sure how much more of this training month I'm going to go into. I may just summarize it, or may go into details on a few things.**

**Anyway, let me know what you think.**


End file.
